UK-based iCloud users may eventually be able to access Advanced Data Protection once again after pressure from the US. Ironically, the Big Tech Lobby’s influence on the US government caused them to intervene on their behalf.
Sir Keir Starmer’s government is seeking a way out of a clash with the Trump administration over the UK’s demand that Apple provide it with access to secure customer data, two senior British officials have told the Financial Times.
The officials both said the Home Office, which ordered the tech giant in January to grant access to its most secure cloud storage system, would probably have to retreat in the face of pressure from senior leaders in Washington, including Vice President JD Vance.
“This is something that the vice president is very annoyed about and which needs to be resolved,” said an official in the UK’s technology department. “The Home Office is basically going to have to back down.”
Both officials said the UK decision to force Apple to break its end-to-end encryption—which has been raised multiple times by top officials in Donald Trump’s administration—could impede technology agreements with the US.
Now this is not because they ONLY care about encryption issues, the US government also cares about protecting tech companies and their bottom line.
Yes it’s an, uh, unusual way to get a privacy win but it is undoubtedly a win. Could even have knock on effects of scaring other countries out of similar attempts to demand backdoors like the EU’s chat control proposal that never seems to fully die.
I hear you, but this also smells of CBS paying Trump $16 million to settle a lawsuit they are in the right about, just so it doesn’t impede their parent company’s upcoming merger.
Obviously, it’s not to the same degree and the context is different, but the power dynamics feel similar.
On another note, I just recently found out about CakePay, which allows people to buy gift cards from all over the world anonymously with Monero from their Cake wallet.
If the UK ban on Apple’s advance data protection (ADP) remains, in theory, UK residents could use Cake Pay to buy and Apple gift card from any other country where ADP is allowed. Most UK apps should be available globally.
Yes, ADP deals with iCloud drive. But your iCloud account is linked to your Apple ID, and your Apple ID is linked to the country of your credit card. If you are British and living in the US, and all you have is a UK bank account, you can only buy things from the UK app store with it.
However, if while in the US, you can buy an Apple US gift card and you wish to use that card with your UK Apple ID, you will have to change your country in the app store from UK to US. At which point, your AppleID becomes a US account.
The only way to change your AppleID’s country is to have a bank account or Apple gift card from another country. The former is very hard unless you’re a citizen or resident of multiple countries. The latter is less hard but still complicated, because acquiring an Apple gift card from a country you don’t live in used to be quite difficult, unless you have friends or family there, which still takes time.
Now it’s much easier. Services like CakePay make it super easy. Anyone can do it. I haven’t tried CakePay yet, but I’m confident that it would work.