The UK government's Apple secret order demands backdoors an end-to-end encrypted version of the iCloud storage service, being challenged by two civil rights groups, Liberty and Privacy International, who filed a complaint on Thursday. They called the orders “unacceptable, unbalanced” and warned about “global outcomes” as access orders are thought to be extended to non-KUK users as well.
The pair, along with two nominated individuals, Gas Hossain, executive director of Privacy International, and Ben Wisner, civil liberty advocate, directed the law firm Rayday to challenge the Secretary of the Interior.
YvetteCooper's decision to provide Apple with the so-called Technical Capability Notification (TCN) based on the Investmental Powers Act (IPA). The existence of a secret order only emerged by a reporter's report last month.
“Privacy International and Liberty can be used to undermine the end-to-end encryption, which is essential to protecting privacy and free expression, fearing this TCN, or a similar TCN in the future,” they wrote in a press release.
Apple has already submitted a legal challenge to TCN. The appeal will be heard by the Court of Inquiry Forces (IPT), the body that oversees complaints against the UK Intelligence Reporting Agency. Both civil rights groups Hossain and Wisner have been asked to associate them as direct victims of the government's TCN decision and join their complaints in Apple's.
They also want to be heard publicly, not in closed room, rather than taking part in previous calls from privacy rights groups. The IPT hearing is expected to be scheduled for today, Friday, March 14th.