Overview
- Apple, Privacy International and Liberty asked the Investigatory Powers Tribunal on Thursday to force the UK to stop using its neither confirm nor deny policy so the court case over a technical capability notice can be heard openly.
- The contested technical capability notice is an order seeking a way to access end‑to‑end encrypted iCloud backups, which Apple says would require building an access point that could be exploited by hackers or hostile states.
- Apple removed its Advanced Data Protection feature for UK users in February 2025 after refusing to create what it called a government 'back door' into encrypted backups.
- The original January 2025 demand covered U.S. and UK users but was narrowed after talks with the U.S. administration, and Britain issued a UK‑only notice in July 2026 that is now the subject of the legal challenges.
- The tribunal will rule later on whether the government can continue to rely on NCND and a full hearing on the substance of the notice is not expected until next year, leaving product and privacy impacts unresolved for UK users.