For a long time, I felt it was only a matter of time before some nation called Apple’s bluff on iOS security and demanded a secret backdoor into user data. While the United States has made several threats over the years without following through, it appears the United Kingdom has now mandated access to end-to-end encrypted data, complete with a gag order preventing Apple from disclosing this fact. Apple hasn’t addressed this publicly, and it’s unclear whether they’ve taken any action to comply. My guess is that Apple will initially appeal and contest this order as far as they can take it.

If the UK is serious about this, Apple faces a real challenge. The thing about secret backdoors is that they never remain secret for long. The system is either secure or it isn’t, and adding a backdoor firmly places it in that second category. Moreover, I expect the act of adding a backdoor would jeopardize the European Union privacy compliance requirements.

This is a big deal for both Apple and us consumers. If the United Kingdom really presses this point, I could see Apple deciding to stop selling iPhones there altogether. If they do capitulate, you can expect every country to demand its own method of accessing end-to-end encrypted data. And any hope of user privacy will vanish. To add to our frustration, the existence of the gag order makes public discourse on this opaque demand difficult.