Tech
Encryption concerns: Apple opposes UK Surveillance Bill
Apple has decided to stay on course when it comes to privacy with the company submitting a formal statement to the bill committee working on a new complex and controversial surveillance law in the U.K.
The statement released recently submits that government backdoors could be used by anyone and weaken the security of hundreds of millions of devices and users.
“We believe it would be wrong to weaken security for hundreds of millions of law-abiding customers so that it will also be weaker for the very few who pose a threat,” the company wrote.
“In this rapidly evolving cyber-threat environment, companies should remain free to implement strong encryption to protect customers”.
Read also: Apple Pay coming to China in 2016
In particular, Apple doesn’t want to alter the iMessage protocol. Currently, when you send an iMessage, everything is encrypted and Apple can’t even see the content of your messages because it doesn’t have the keys to decrypt them. But if a government forces Apple to change its protocol to provide a backdoor, it would make these messages accessible to potential hackers.
“The creation of backdoors and intercept capabilities would weaken the protections built into Apple products and endanger all our customers,” Apple wrote.
“A key left under the doormat would not just be there for the good guys. The bad guys would find it too.”
RipplesNigeria …without borders, without fears
Join the conversation
Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism
Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.
As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.
If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.
Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.
German Police bust alleged Nigerian scam dating ring
German authorities have arrested eleven individuals suspected of being members of a Nigerian mafia group involved in a large-scale dating...
INVESTIGATION: In Kwara, multimillion-naira milk processing plant is abandoned, converted to a chicken outlet
After the government spent millions of naira to establish a milk processing plant in Kwara State that would provided jobs...
SPECIAL REPORT: For Sokoto communities, promise of healthcare is akin to death sentence
In this story, ABDULRASHEED HAMMAD delves into the dire realities of Primary Health Care services in Sokoto State, shedding light...
ICYMI…SPECIAL REPORT: NNPCL hides behind PIA to frustrate disclosure, accountability
Nigeria’s major oil company, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), in what appears to be a common practice of disregard...
INVESTIGATION: Multi-million naira Ekiti resort center remains uncompleted a decade after
The multimillion-naira project, expected to comprise recreational buildings, now consists of cassava farmland, a bush used for excretion, and a...