Overview

• The Home Office issued a Technical Capability Notice in early September seeking a mechanism to access encrypted iCloud backups of British citizens, according to multiple reports citing the Financial Times.
• Apple previously disabled Advanced Data Protection in the UK and reiterates it will never build a backdoor, calling the unavailability of ADP for UK customers “gravely disappointing.”
• Privacy International and Liberty warn that even a UK‑only backdoor would create systemic weaknesses that could be exploited globally by hostile actors and criminals.
• Apple’s case at the Investigatory Powers Tribunal remains in play after earlier rulings reduced secrecy around the process, and the new notice may reset aspects of the legal timeline.
• The move follows a January global demand that drew U.S. pushback and was later narrowed; British officials now indicate Washington is no longer pressing London to retract the revised order.