On Thursday 13 February 2025, the UK Chapter of the Internet Society joined a group of over 100 civil society organizations, companies, and cybersecurity experts – as part of an effort led by the Global Encryption Coalition (GEC) – submitted a letter to British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper calling on the UK Home Office to rescind its demand that Apple create a backdoor into its end-to-end encrypted services.
The letter stated that civil society organizations, companies, and cybersecurity experts, including members of the Global Encryption Coalition, called on the UK Home Office to rescind its demand for Apple to create a backdoor into its end-to-end encrypted services. This demand, the letter argued, jeopardized the security and privacy of millions, undermined the UK tech sector, and set a dangerous precedent for global cybersecurity.
The letter mentioned that the UK Government had issued a technical capability notice to Apple under the Investigatory Powers Act 2016, which would have forced Apple to build a backdoor into its encrypted cloud services. According to the letter, this posed a significant risk to global cybersecurity, as providing government access to end-to-end encrypted data would have broken encryption and put every user’s security and privacy at risk.
The letter emphasised that strong encryption was critical for keeping information and communication confidential, safeguarding citizens both online and offline. It cited a report from the UK’s National Audit Office, which stated that the “cyber threat to the UK government was severe.” The letter also highlighted that end-to-end encryption was vital in preventing harassment and physical violence for at-risk groups, and its confidentiality protected the UK’s national security. It warned that undermining the confidentiality of cloud services would have had the most harmful impact on those already at greatest risk and could have led to reputational damage for UK tech companies. Finally, the letter called on the Home Office to end its notice forcing Apple to break encryption in order to ensure security.
The full text of the letter, with its signatories, can be found on the Global Encryption Coalition’s page.