January 2025

UK Bans Encryption?

Apple Removes ADP for UK Users

At the request (or rather...demand) of the UK government, Apple has removed the option to use end-to-end encryption for iCloud data for UK users. This is a big deal. Here's my breakdown:

​UK Wants to See your Photos & iCloud data →​

Go Deeper: This whole episode seems to confirm the effectiveness of Advanced Data Protection (Apple's encryption). BUT...it's not on by default. Here's what you need to know to turn it on:

ADP Tutorial Learn how to turn on Advanced Data Protection (ADP) for Apple devices. ​5 Watch the Tutorial →​

Adding 2FA As part of turning on ADP, you'll also need to add 2FA protection. Here's how: ​How to Add 2FA Keys →​

Why does this UK stuff matter?

Hi [CORRECTED_NAME GOES HERE], this news about the UK banning privacy may not have even crossed your feed this past week, but it's been huge news in the privacy community.

Why is that?

The good news is that Apple didn't cave to the UK demands to create a backdoor into their encryption - Apple rightly believes that this would be a slippery slope.

The bad news is that now that the UK has successfully forced Apple to withdraw it's end-to-end encryption for users, chances are other governments around the world will ask them to do the same.

This might be a good wakeup call for many of us to start thinking about how we store our data in the cloud. Or perhaps, as I talked about in this month's live stream, consider this: are open source OS phones a viable alternative?​

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UK Data Privacy: Further Reading

To give you more context, here are the sources that I've used to follow this story with the UK and Apple:

​UK Asks Apple for a Backdoor (Wa Po)

The Washington Post first reported (via anonymous sources) that the UK asked Apple to create a backdoor and not warn its users that it was doing so!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/02/07/apple-encryption-backdoor-uk/

​
​Apple Pulls Advanced Data Protection​

Less than a week later, BBC reported that Apple decided to remove the option for UK users to turn on Advanced Data Protection (i.e. encryption). Those who had already turned it on will have it disabled "at a later date".

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgj54eq4vejo
​

​What Data is Encrypted on Apple?​

All of this might have you asked: what data is/isn't encrypted with Apple? Here's a full list of data categories and what is fully encrypted by default vs when ADP is on.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/102651

Do you use Apple?

If so - and if you're not a UK citizen - I highly recommend that you turn on ADP. I thought it was a good idea before, but now that a government doesn't want it turned on, now I'm extra bullish on it.

✌️

Josh

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3824 Cedar Springs Rd #801-8170, Dallas, TX 75219
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