Snooper's Charter In UK Could Have Dire Consequences

Apple CEO Tim Cook, clearly on the opposing side of the Snooper's Charter to be introduced to the United Kingdom, raised his concerns. He said the public telecommunications service had expanded its definition from Internet service providers to technology companies and telecommunications providers, namely those with email and messaging services including Apple, Google and even Facebook.

Impossible to Reveal Encryptions

Cook's concern comes from the legitimisation of bulk interception from Internet providers, wherein they force ISPs to provide customer information and other sensitive data for up to 12 months until they are destroyed.

However, Apple's Message's app does not rely on manual encryption, but rather end-to-end encryption where only the sender and the receiver can read the messages. This makes it impossible for Apple to reveal the encrypted messages as demanded by the Snooper's Charter.

A Backdoor For Everyone

In turn, Cook said that anybody who discovers a backdoor to the encryptions, let alone allowing Apple itself to have a backdoor, will allow anyone to have a backdoor to every UK person's privacy.

Despite the safety it helps to bring down terrorists and find information about them, a backdoor would destroy the privacy and reveal sensitive information at a whim.

Meanwhile, Apple has not indicated what steps it would take should the bill become law.