The U.Ok. authorities is reportedly backing down from its earlier demand that Apple construct a secret backdoor permitting its authorities entry to buyer information worldwide, following a harsh rebuke from the U.S. authorities. However one U.S. senator desires to know if different tech giants, like Google, have additionally acquired secret backdoor calls for from the U.Ok. authorities.
Google refused to reply the lawmaker’s questions however has since informed TechCrunch that the know-how big has not acquired a backdoor demand, marking the primary time that Google has confirmed it isn’t topic to the same U.Ok. order.
Earlier this yr, The Washington Submit reported that the U.Ok. House Workplace sought a secret courtroom order within the U.Ok.’s surveillance courtroom demanding that Apple permit U.Ok. authorities to entry the end-to-end encrypted cloud information saved on any buyer on this planet, together with their iPhone and iPad backups. Apple encrypts the info in such a method that solely prospects, and never Apple, can entry their information saved on its servers.
Below U.Ok. regulation, tech corporations topic to secret surveillance courtroom orders, corresponding to Apple, are legally barred from revealing particulars of an order, or the existence of the order itself, regardless of particulars of the demand publicly leaking earlier this yr. Critics known as the key order towards Apple “draconian,” saying it will have international ramifications for customers’ privateness. Apple has since appealed the legality of the order.
In a brand new letter despatched to high U.S. intelligence official Tulsi Gabbard on Tuesday, Sen. Ron Wyden, who serves on the Senate Intelligence Committee, mentioned that whereas tech corporations can not say whether or not they have acquired a U.Ok. order, not less than one know-how big has confirmed that it hasn’t acquired one.
Meta, which makes use of end-to-end encryption to guard consumer messages despatched between WhatsApp and Fb Messenger, informed Wyden’s workplace on March 17 that the corporate has “not acquired an order to backdoor our encrypted companies, like that reported about Apple.”
Google, for its half, wouldn’t inform Wyden’s workplace if it had acquired a U.Ok. authorities order for accessing encrypted information, corresponding to Android backups, “solely stating that if it had acquired a technical capabilities discover, it will be prohibited from disclosing that reality,” mentioned Wyden.
Google spokesperson Karl Ryan informed TechCrunch in a press release: “Now we have by no means constructed any mechanism or ‘backdoor’ to bypass end-to-end encryption in our merchandise. If we are saying a product is end-to-end encrypted, it’s.”
When explicitly requested by TechCrunch, Ryan mentioned: “We haven’t acquired a technical capabilities discover,” referring to any U.Ok. surveillance order.
Wyden’s letter, first reported by The Washington Submit and shared with TechCrunch, known as on Gabbard to make public its “evaluation of the nationwide safety dangers posed by the U.Ok.’s surveillance legal guidelines and its reported secret calls for of U.S. corporations.”
This story was up to date with further remark from Google, shared in response to a TechCrunch inquiry.
