With Apple removing its best iPhone security feature rather than submitting to misjudged government demands, it’s clear the long-running encryption debate will fire up again. And while on the surface this looks like a simply battle between law enforcement and big tech,

Apple is taking the unprecedented step of removing its highest level data security tool from customers in the UK, after the government demanded access to user data. Advanced Data Protection (ADP) means only account holders can view items such as photos or documents they have stored online through a process known as end-to-end encryption.

The U.K. wants Apple to build a backdoor into its most secure encryption. It’s not hard to see why that’s a problem.

Apple said on Friday it was ending full end-to-end encryption for British customers and iPhone users, following US media reports the UK government had asked for global data access.

A secret UK order demanding that Apple backdoor its iCloud encryption appears to have prompted the company to pull Advanced Data Protection in the region.

Plus: Researchers find RedNote lacks basic security measures, surveillance ramps up around the US-Mexico border, and the UK ordering Apple to create an encryption backdoor comes under fire.

The Investigatory Powers Act, with its push for encryption backdoors, is raising alarm bells in the tech sector.

Members of key US congressional oversight committees have called on the country’s new top intelligence director to push back on the United Kingdom’s demand that Apple create a backdoor to allow it to access encrypted users data stored in iCloud by users around the globe,

Plus, why Microsoft and Google don’t have to comply with the UK encryption issue that Apple does, and a computer mouse that smells nice. Starring Tom Merritt and Rob Dunewood. Follow us on

Apple users in the United Kingdom will no longer have access to a key data security feature for iCloud storage: Advanced Data Protection. It’s a relatively small change, but privacy experts worry it could have ripple effects for data privacy around the world.

Apple Inc. is removing its most advanced encrypted security feature for cloud data in the UK, a stunning development that follows the government ordering the company to build a backdoor for accessing user data.