Are FaceTime phone calls and messages in encrypted apps like Signal and Apple messages vulnerable to something like this?
If not, this seems like an overblown issue. Although, the security of these large corporations whom we trust our data to is appalling.
No. E2EE protects against server compromise, at least in terms of the message content.
Besides that in China Apple’ communication servixes are not e2ee.
Do you have a source on that? Can’t find anything.
There are probably better ones but just quickly: https://archive.ph/MQmY7
The Tianyi division of the state-owned China Telecom will be storing pictures, iMessage texts, notes, and calendar data from iCloud. Even though iMessage texts are technically end-to-end encrypted, in reality they are automatically stored on iCloud along with everything else. Their encryption key is, too, which means whoever is in control of the iCloud servers can read them.
Yeah so that’s just the infrastructure. If you turn on ADP or turn off iCloud backup then the key isn’t stored. So Chinese users can still use FaceTime and iMessage the same as everyone else it seems.
It seems that now, in phase 3, the Chinese government itself has taken direct control of Apple’s iCloud data center, by taking the reins from Guizhou Cloud Big Data, the private Chinese cloud services company that stored Apple’s encryption keys from February to now.
Seems it was already being stored in China anyway it’s just now a state operated telecom instead of a private one.