Welcome to the Tech Mean Right Home for Friday, February 7th, 2025. I'm Brian McCullough. Today is the UK government about to force Apple to put backdoors into all our iPhones. Tallying up the Tech earnings week of KAPX announcements. We might get a new iPhone next week, the weekend long-read suggestions, and listen to the end of the show because I'm running an experiment.

Here's what you miss today in the world of tech.

Sources say that in a secret order last month, UK security officials demanded Apple create a

backdoor to access all cloud content any Apple user worldwide has uploaded. So that includes

you and me. Even if you're not a UK citizen, they demanded this backdoor for any Apple user

full stop. Quoting the Washington Post, the British government's undisclosed order

issued last month requires blanket capability to view fully encrypted material, not merely assistance

in cracking a specific account, and has no known precedent in major democracies. Its application

would mark a significant defeat for tech companies in their decades-long battle to

avoid being wielded as government tools against their users, the people said, speaking under the

condition of anonymity to discuss legally and politically sensitive issues. Rather than break the security

promises it made to its users everywhere, Apple is likely to stop offering encrypted storage in the UK,

the people said. Yet that concession would not fulfill the UK demand for backdoor access to

the service in other countries, including the United States. The office of the Home Secretary

has served Apple with a document called a technical capability notice, ordering it to provide access under

the sweeping UK Investigatory Powers Act of 2016, which authorizes law enforcement to compel

assistance from companies when needed to collect evidence the people said. The law, known by critics

as the Snoopers Charter, makes it a criminal offense to reveal that

the government has even made such a demand, and Apple spokesman declined to comment.

Apple can appeal the UK capability notice to a secret technical panel which would consider

arguments about the expense of the requirement, and to a judge who would weigh whether the

request was in proportion to the

...