How Apple has scored a 'win' against UK's security backdoor demands

In a notable ruling, the UK government has been unsuccessful in its bid to conceal the details of the UK government has failed in its attempt to keep secret the details of a surveillance order it issued against tech giant Apple . This ruling effectively grants Apple a victory in the legal battle where it was reportedly ordered to create a "backdoor" into its products.

A newly-released decision by the UK's Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) reveals that parts of the legal case will now be heard in public. The IPT, a court that examines the exercise of surveillance powers, published its decision.

“We do not accept that the revelation of the bare details of the case would be damaging to the public interest or prejudicial to national security,” said Judges Rabinder Singh and Jeremy Johnson, as per news agency Reuters.

While the full specifics are still undisclosed, reports suggest the case centers around a UK legal demand compelling Apple to grant UK authorities access to the encrypted cloud data of any Apple customer globally.

These “bare details” align with previously leaked information published by The Washington Post in February, which exposed the UK's alleged pursuit of a backdoor into Apple's systems.

Apple dropped Advanced Data Protection feature for users in the UK
Following the emergence of these reports, Apple announced it could “no longer” offer its Advanced Data Protection feature to users in the UK. This feature provides end-to-end encryption for user files stored in Apple's cloud, ensuring that only the user can access them.

It is understood that Apple challenged the surveillance order by appealing to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal. In response, the UK government argued before the court that making the nature of the case public would jeopardise national security.

However, the IPT rejected this argument, siding with calls for greater transparency from various quarters.