San Francisco Frontiers - Apple says halting data protection tool for UK users

"Apple can no longer offer Advanced Data Protection (ADP) in the United Kingdom to new users and current UK users will eventually need to disable this security feature," it said in a statement.

ADP means only account holders can view content such as photos and documents stored online and in the cloud through what is known as end-to-end encryption.

The Washington Post reported earlier this month that the UK had demanded that Apple create a "back door" to enable the government to view any information uploaded by any Apple user around the world.

Many tech platforms pride themselves on the ability to guarantee privacy through encrypted messaging channels, and providing access to law enforcement has long been seen as off-limits.

"As we have said many times before, we have never built a backdoor or master key to any of our products or services and we never will," Apple said on Friday.

The California-based multinational tech giant added it was "gravely disappointed that the protections provided by ADP will not be available to our customers in the UK given the continuing rise of data breaches and other threats to customer privacy".

The UK's interior ministry told AFP: "We do not comment on operational matters."

End-to-end encryption stops law enforcement from intercepting messages, meaning only the sender and recipient are able to read their contents.

Police officials worldwide say encryption can protect criminals, terrorists and pornographers even when authorities have a legal warrant for an investigation.

But civil rights and privacy advocates, along with cybersecurity professionals, advocate encrypting data to protect against wrongful snooping by authorities as well as hackers.

"Apple remains committed to offering our users the highest level of security for their personal data and are hopeful that we will be able to do so in the future in the United Kingdom," the tech company said.

M.Powell--SFF