The UK government is reportedly retreating from previous demands that Apple build a secret backdoor that allows access to customer data around the world, following the harsh responsibilities from the US government. But one US senator wants to know if other tech giants like Google have received secret backdoor requests from the UK government.
Google refused to answer the lawmaker's questions, but later told Techrunch that the tech giant wasn't receiving backdoor demand.
Earlier this year, the Washington Post reported that the UK's Department of Home Affairs is seeking a secret court order in the UK's surveillance court to allow Apple to access end-to-end encrypted cloud data stored by customers around the world, including iPhone and iPad backups. Apple encrypts data so that only Apple, not Apple, can access data stored on the server.
UK law legally prohibits tech companies subject to secret surveillance court orders, such as Apple, from revealing details of the order, or the existence of the order itself, despite details of demand that have been leaked publicly earlier this year. Critics called the secret order against Apple “Draconian,” and said it would have a global impact on user privacy. Apple then appealed the legality of the order.
In a new letter sent to Tarsi Gabbard, the top US intelligence reporting agency in Tuesday, Sen. Ron Wyden, who serves the Senate Intelligence Reporting Committee, said he cannot say whether the tech company has received the UK order, but he has confirmed that at least one tech giant has not received it.
Meta, which uses end-to-end encryption to protect user messages sent between Whatsapp and Facebook Messenger, told Wyden's office on March 17 that the company “has not received an order to back up any encrypted services like those reported on Apple.”
Google “just states that if you receive a UK government order to access encrypted data, such as Android backups, it is “just saying that if you receive a technical capability notification, you are prohibited from revealing that fact,” Wyden said.
Google spokesman Karl Ryan told TechCrunch in a statement. “We have never built a mechanism or a 'backdoor' to avoid end-to-end encryption of our products. When you say the product is end-to-end encrypted, that's right. ”
When asked explicitly by TechCrunch, Ryan said he had “not received any notice of technical capabilities,” referring to the UK's oversight order.
Wyden's letter, first reported by the Washington Post and shared with TechCrunch, called on Gabbard to publish “an assessment of the national security risks posed by UK surveillance laws and reported confidential demands of US companies.”
This story was updated with additional comments from Google and shared in response to TechCrunch enquiries.