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Wow .... the government should decide the moral line? Some of us used to think that was the way, but those times have long passed.
In that case you have a free for all. Sooner or later it will badly affect you and you will ask why nothing was done to stop it.
 
The consequence of living in a free society is that yes, sometimes people are going to be offended. But guess what? That person also has the right to voice their opinion without fear of censorship from those who want to stifle free thought and free expression.
The consequence of being a grown-up is you’re responsible for your actions if you cause harm to another person.

You do not have the right to make abusive, hateful, racist comments to others. Fortunately the law is there to protect us from people like you.
 
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The alternative is anyone can say anything they like. In which case you don't need to encrypt things because nothing you say can be illegal.

There's a lot of room between "say anything you like in all contexts" and "government decides what people can say"

In fact, just about all possible alternative options lay between those two extremes
 
That’s what I tried to point out. Something that might offend me might not bother someone else.
Are you deliberately being dull? It’s obvious to any grown-up with a functioning moral compass what is going to be taken as offence to the person they’re directing it to.

What is it, exactly, that YOU feel you’re not able to say?
 
There's a lot of room between "say anything you like in all contexts" and "government decides what people can say"

In fact, just about all possible alternative options lay between those two extremes
The elected government decides where the line lies. If they don't decide, who does?
 
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In that case you have a free for all. Sooner or later it will badly affect you and you will ask why nothing was done to stop it.
You have things backwards. In a number of countries it is the government which is currently defining the moral lines. People are currently trying to stop it so they will not have to look their children in the eyes in a few years and admit they just let it happen.
 
You have things backwards. In a number of countries it is the government which is currently defining the moral lines. People are currently trying to stop it so they will not have to look their children in the eyes in a few years and admit they just let it happen.
Someone has to set the moral line so who?
 
Are you deliberately being dull? It’s obvious to any grown-up with a functioning moral compass what is going to be taken as offence to the person they’re directing it to.

What is it, exactly, that YOU feel you’re not able to say?
You are completely wrong. These days one has no idea at all what another person may find offensive. A prime example is what has happened to so many university aged people. They require safe spaces, trigger warnings about books, plays, movies etc. They have little hope of coping out in the real world.
 
You are completely wrong. These days one has no idea at all what another person may find offensive. A prime example is what has happened to so many university aged people. They require safe spaces, trigger warnings about books, plays, movies etc. They have little hope of coping out in the real world.
“You can’t say racist things anymore Maureen, it’s health and safety GONE MAD!”
 
People crack me up. “My party backed by my favorite narcissistic billionaires is better than your party backed by your favorite narcissistic billionaires.”

What nonsense. If you are a fan of a major party with established political roots, you are a fan of authoritarians. This “mine is better than yours” bs is exactly the game they want us to play. Divide and conquer.

In the US, billionaires (appointed by another billionaire) are violating Congressionally-passed laws. It blows my mind that some folks think it’s safe to align with one uber-powerful group over another.

No, reject them all. The global oligarchy must be destroyed.
 
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Apple has withdrawn its Advanced Data Protection iCloud feature from the United Kingdom following government demands for backdoor access to encrypted user data, according to Bloomberg. The move comes after UK officials secretly ordered Apple to provide unrestricted access to encrypted iCloud content worldwide.

iCloud-Versus-UK-Key-Feature.jpg

Customers who are already using Advanced Data Protection, or ADP, will need to manually disable it during an unspecified grace period to keep their iCloud accounts, according to the report. Apple said it will issue additional guidance in the future to affected users and that it "does not have the ability to automatically disable it on their behalf."

The UK government's demand came through a "technical capability notice" under the Investigatory Powers Act (IPA), requiring Apple to create a backdoor that would allow British security officials to access encrypted user data globally. The order would have compromised Apple's Advanced Data Protection feature, which provides end-to-end encryption for iCloud data including Photos, Notes, Messages backups, and device backups.
Apple's decision to pull the feature rather than comply with the UK's demands is consistent with the company's previous statements that it would consider withdrawing encrypted services from the UK rather than compromise security. Apple has long opposed creating backdoors in its products, maintaining that such access points would inevitably be discovered by malicious actors.

advanced-data-protection.jpg

Notice UK iCloud users now see after the feature was pulled

The UK order was particularly controversial as it would have required Apple to provide access to data from users outside the UK without their governments' knowledge. Additionally, the IPA makes it illegal for companies to disclose the existence of such government demands.

US security agencies, including the FBI and NSA, have been advocating for increased use of encryption to protect against Chinese cyber threats, creating potential conflicts between UK and US security interests.

"Enhancing the security of cloud storage with end-to-end encryption is more urgent than ever before,” said Apple on Friday, per Bloomberg. The company added that it "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."

Note that the loss of Advanced Data Protection in the UK does not affect the existing end-to-end encryption of several other Apple features available in the country, including iMessage, FaceTime, password management and health data.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: Apple Pulls Encrypted iCloud Security Feature in UK Amid Government Backdoor Demands
This is a good resolution to this improper request from the UK government.
 
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This and the previous government have a pattern of chipping away at our rights. The right to protest, and now privacy it seems. People have been prosecuted for considering protesting in a way that isn’t permitted.

There is no rational thinking in our politicians.
The problem in the UK is that you only have the rights granted to you from the UK government.
 
The official reason is to catch criminals whereas the real reason is they can’t use mass surveillance to spy on citizens using encrypted communications like they can through monitoring SMS, which we know from the Snowden leaks they have been doing for some time. I expect they’ll be going after Alphabet and Meta too if they haven’t already.
They already provide backdoors into their environment.
 
Pictures of kids, partners, places that were visited, etc. At the very least it should concern you that the UK government is engaging in blanket rather than targeted surveillance. Or does the UK not believe in the right of privacy any more? Remember the UK has no written Constitution protecting citizens' rights.

But that data is still encrypted when leaving your device and when stored in iCloud. The encryption isn’t changing. Who holds the encryption keys is what is changing. So now if the police etc have a warrant and request your data from Apple, Apple will now be able to provide it. Other than that, your data is still fully encrypted and secure in iCloud.
Does this mean that the UK government can now access thing in iCloud or just intercept them on their way up? Does that mean that photo's are being cached on their way to the cloud or scanned?

How does Apple decide what phones are in the UK, is it determined by where the phone is located, purchased, the sim card that is inserted or the declared address given in the iCloud account?

What happens when I am abroad can I enable it again?

See above. Your data is still encrypted and won’t be ‘intercepted’.
 
Don’t be ridiculous.
How is that ridiculous. If you say something against my religion that’s offensive to me. Should you be allowed to say that? I could be offended by some of your political views. You’re not going to be the one deciding what is offensive all the time.


Are you deliberately being dull? It’s obvious to any grown-up with a functioning moral compass what is going to be taken as offence to the person they’re directing it to.

What is it, exactly, that YOU feel you’re not able to say?
I’m in the USA so I can pretty much say anything I want with the exception of course on private webpages like this. All that cool stuff that gets Germans in Brits a visit from police is a non-issue for me.
 
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Disgusting situation created by UK government who want to have political control over everyone. This has NOTHING to do with child safety or criminality and everything to do with surveillance. Those involved in criminality including paedophiles will be laughing out loudly, as they will go off platform making it much much harder for authorities tracking the whereabouts of these criminals. It is sadly another episode of those who don't have a clue about technology, creating an own goal that ironically will only serve the criminals, but then create a surveillance society of everyone else. A move worthy of a dictatorship.
 
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