Update, Sept. 17: At a tribunal case management hearing, a lawyer for civil rights groups said the British government’s refusal to confirm whether it issued the order had “become farcical,” Reuters reported.
Apple has launched a new legal challenge against a UK government demand for access to customers’ encrypted iCloud data, a year after the Home Office dropped its earlier request, The Guardian reported. Apple filed the complaint in July at the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, the court that hears claims that UK intelligence services acted unlawfully.
According to a tribunal order, the government issued a second request for “back door” access to encrypted iCloud data, this time covering only British users. The original technical capability notice, issued under the Investigatory Powers Act, applied to UK and U.S. customers and was dropped last year after a dispute between London and Washington. Apple is challenging the government’s power to issue such notices, according to details first reported by the Financial Times.
The notices concern Advanced Data Protection, the optional iCloud setting that encrypts data so that not even Apple can read it. Apple said building a back door would leave users more exposed to data breaches, and it stopped offering the feature to UK customers in 2025 rather than comply with the first order. The Home Office says the law has robust safeguards and is used only when absolutely necessary.
Court filings from Liberty and Privacy International, which have their own case against the notice regime, say Apple brought its new claim on July 13. The tribunal notified Privacy International, which said a hearing on how to handle the parallel cases was set for September. “We are happy to learn that Apple is once again challenging the UK’s regime of secret orders,” a Privacy International spokesperson said.
Neither Apple nor the Home Office commented. Both are legally restricted from discussing technical capability notices.
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