Taxpayer Watchdog Condemns UK’s Assault on User Privacy
For Immediate Release
Contact: Kara Zupkus (224) 456-0257
WASHINGTON, D.C. – New reports indicate that, in a nonpublic order issued last month, the government of the United Kingdom (UK) ordered Apple to give officials access to encrypted user information. Apple was instructed to make a “back door” that allows the government to access all cloud-stored information. On both sides of the Atlantic, privacy advocates have long warned that back doors provided to law enforcement create myriad other security risks.
In response to the rule, Taxpayers Protection Alliance Foundation (TPAF) Research Director, and program manager of TPAF’s App Security Project, David McGarry offered the following comment:
“The UK’s order strikes a blow at the very foundations of user privacy. The country that gave Americans the tradition from which the Fourth Amendment grew should know better than to abandon that tradition.
“Just as a man’s home is his castle (as the old English saying goes), a user’s devices should be his castles. Law enforcement must be carried out without violating digital privacy rights. Back doors, once opened, remain open for everyone. Moreover, governments have no right to see everything their citizens do at will – neither in the physical nor the digital world.
“Worse still, British officials seek access to user data worldwide. This threatens Americans’ security directly. If the order stands, no more will Americans ‘be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches,’ as the Fourth Amendment guarantees. The fights over technology regulation cannot be contained to their immediate geographical vicinity. Their effects radiate outward, affecting users globally.
“The App Security Project has long warned that regulators can, in fact, break the internet. Sure enough, as regulators in various countries have overstepped, tech companies have withheld services from their constituents. Reports indicate that Apple will withdraw encryption services from Europe. This – while a fully justified defensive act to parry government overreach – would nonetheless harm UK users tremendously.
“President Trump’s administration has made clear that Europeans may no longer bully American tech companies and users without opposition. This breach of privacy should be the first European abuse Trump’s team squashes.”
Published on February 7, 2025