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Business

Apple ditched iCloud encryption plans after FBI complaints: report

By
Nicolas Vega
Published Jan. 21, 2020, 6:40 p.m. ET

Just days after President Trump slammed Apple for refusing to break into the iPhones used by a gunman who killed three people at a Florida naval base, a report has emerged claiming that the tech giant is much more deferential to the federal government than previously thought.

Apple two years ago ditched plans to let customers encrypt device backups on its iCloud service after the FBI complained that such encryption would harm investigations, Reuters reported citing six sources familiar with the matter.

The encryption would have meant that Apple would not be able to turn material over to authorities even if it was under court order. The FBI’s cyber crime agents argued that such a plan would eliminate the most effective method for gathering evidence against iPhone-using suspects, according to Reuters.

Instead of protecting all of iCloud with end-to-end encryption, Apple has shifted to focus on protecting some of the most sensitive user information, such as saved passwords and health data.

But backed-up contact information and texts from iMessage, WhatsApp and other encrypted services remain available to Apple employees and authorities.
Apple later scrapped the plan, with Reuters quoting a former Apple employee as saying that “legal killed it, for reasons you can imagine.”

“They decided they weren’t going to poke the bear anymore,” the person said, referring to Apple’s court battle with the FBI in 2016 over access to an iPhone used by one of the suspects in a mass shooting in San Bernardino, Calif.

The about-face represents a rare acquiescence by a company that has prided itself on protecting customer information and publicly rebuking government requests for access.

The back-and-forth between law enforcement and Apple’s desire for privacy reared its head last week when US Attorney General Bill Barr called out Apple for refusing to unlock two iPhones used by a Saudi Air Force officer who murdered three Americans at a Pensacola, Fla. naval base in December.

Trump joined the fray, tweeting that Apple was refusing to unlock devices used by “killers, drug dealers and other violent criminal elements.”

Apple responded by saying that it had turned over the shooter’s iCloud backups, and denied Barr’s characterization that it “has not provided substantive assistance.”

With Post Wires