Tulsi Gabbard’s ‘Win’ for Apple Isn’t That Simple
The British government can still issue more orders for tech company backdoors. Worse, it can do so in secret.
Watching.
Photographer: Leon Neal/Getty Images EuropeYou can’t blame Tulsi Gabbard for trying. The US director of national intelligence announced Tuesday that Britain was finally backing down on its outrageous demand that Apple Inc. give it a backdoor to user data. That would seem like a win for US tech giants and privacy advocates, but it’s not so simple. Even if the UK government does drop its request, it can still issue other “technical capability notices” demanding tech firms share information about their users, which firms are not allowed to say they’ve received.
The real problem is bad privacy legislation in the UK, and the best way to solve it isn’t through political meddling but in court. Gabbard’s pronouncement on X seems good on its face and followed extensive negotiations with British officials, but it now perhaps makes a much-needed change to the law less likely.