
Apple Appealing against UK 'Back Door' Order, Tribunal Confirms
Apple is appealing against a British government order to create a "back door" to its encrypted cloud storage systems, the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) confirmed on Monday.
The IPT said in a written judgment that it had refused an application by the British government that "the bare details of the case", including that it was brought by Apple, be kept private.
The ruling follows a hearing in London last month, which was held in secret with media not allowed to attend.
The Washington Post reported in February that Britain had issued a "technical capability notice" to Apple to enable access to encrypted messages and photos, even for users outside the country, Reuters reported.
The iPhone maker in response removed its most advanced security encryption for cloud data, called Advanced Data Protection, for new users in Britain.
Details of the case have been shrouded in
secrecy
and neither Apple nor the British government have publicly confirmed the technical capability notice.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Asharq Al-Awsat
4 days ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Google Begins Direct Online Sales of Pixel Phones in India
Google on Thursday began direct online sales of its popular hardware devices in India, including Pixel phones, watches and earbuds, ahead of an anticipated launch of its first physical stores in the South Asian nation. The Alphabet-owned firm said it has for the first time enabled direct online purchases for Indian users on the official Google Store website. The company currently sells its products in India through authorized retailers and via Walmart-backed e-commerce platform Flipkart. Apple, its bigger rival in the premium smartphone category, already sells its phones directly to Indian users, and operates its own retail stores in Mumbai and in New Delhi, with more planned. Google is close to deciding on locations in India where it will open its first physical retail stores outside the United States, Reuters reported in February. In launching the physical stores, Google has sought to mirror a retail approach that helped Apple Inc rake in billions of dollars in the last two decades by showcasing its own products. Apple has 500 plus stores worldwide. Pixel phones in India cost from about $360 to $1,900 for top-end models. Apple's iPhones cost from about $520-$2,100. Google has also started making Pixel smartphones in India. In 2024, Apple dominated the local market for premium phones, priced above $520, with a roughly 55% share, compared with Pixel's 2% share, estimates from research group Counterpoint showed. The fast-growing Indian market has about 712 million smartphone users currently.


Arab News
5 days ago
- Arab News
Saudi coders describe inspiration behind award-winning apps
RIYADH: Two Saudi women spoke to Arab News about the inspiration behind their apps that were named in the top 50 of a global coding competition held recently by Apple. Manar Al-Ghamdi, 22, began coding her app during the COVID-19 pandemic with encouragement from her father. What started as a curiosity quickly turned into a career path. 'It's wonderful when you do something and you see the result of it,' Al-Ghamdi said. '(It is) a magnificent feeling, to see the result of your hard work.' Her app, developed as part of a challenge-based learning module, aims to improve accessibility for visually impaired users. Drawing on Apple's VoiceOver technology, she created a game centered on Lama, a blind girl who guides users through her world. 'When I worked on real-world challenges, that helped me understand the impact of technology on people's lives. One of the most meaningful things that came during the academy was accessibility challenges,' Al-Ghamdi said. 'I talked to someone who is blind and a programmer (and) he showed me how he programs. It opened my eyes to how often accessibility is overlooked in app development, and how it's crucial to design for everyone,' she said. The app is both an educational and empathetic tool, introducing developers to the challenges faced by blind users. 'We need the world to be inclusive, not exclusive,' Al-Ghamdi said. 'When I show anyone my app, they say, 'Oh my God, that's a real thing, that's a challenge.' 'The more knowledge they have after using my app, I think that's the rewarding part,' she added. Both developers are graduates of the Apple Developer Academy in Riyadh, a program designed to nurture and develop coding talent in the Kingdom. 'My experience at the Apple Developer Academy has been truly transformative,' Al-Ghamdi said. 'The academy pushed me to grow, not only as a developer, but as a thinker, a collaborator, and a problem solver,' she added. Al-Ghamdi was motivated to participate in Apple's Swift Student Challenge after meeting previous winners through an academy-hosted session. 'The session I was very excited about is when the club invited the previous winners. They told us about how exciting it was. So I was like, OK, I want that too,' Al-Ghamdi said. 'After this magnificent journey I had here at the academy, the first thing in my mind now is, I want to create an app or develop something that really impacts people's lives,' she said. 'I want to build something meaningful.' 24-year-old Yomna Eisa's app takes a more personal approach. Inspired by her own struggles with mental health, she designed an animated educational app that helps users understand internal stress responses through lighthearted, accessible storytelling. 'I wanted to create something that is personal to me, so that regardless of anything, regardless of outcome, to me, that's still winning, that I created something that has meaning to me,' Eisa said. 'My cats were always a huge emotional support for me, so it was really important to me to incorporate them in this app,' she added. Eisa taught herself animation using her iPad, despite not having an artistic background. 'I'm not an artist. I don't know how to draw, but I wanted to try something different with this app, and I did all the animation myself on my iPad. 'I don't think the person I was before the academy would have been the kind of person to try out risking learning something entirely new,' Eisa said. 'I hope that my app will teach them about what goes on internally in their body when they're under chronic stress ... and deliver that message in a way that is lighthearted and comfortable to the user,' she added. Eisa described the Apple Developer Academy as a key influence on her personal and professional development. 'The academy really pushes us to try new things and try our best to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes. And it's been such a push for me, personally and professionally, and made me change entirely,' Eisa said. 'Honestly, I feel like an entirely new person. The academy program, she said, was 'motivational, encouraging, and comfortable ... being surrounded by our mentors and other women who share similar values when it comes to continuous learning has honestly been so encouraging,' she added. Fueled by her experience at the academy, Eisa is now looking ahead. 'I want to use my knowledge in tech to create something that is useful,' Eisa said. 'I want to hopefully continue doing that and possibly work for a company or an organization that can help me support that and fulfill that goal,' she added. The Swift Student Challenge is part of Apple's broader effort to nurture young talent in coding, design and entrepreneurship. The 50 winners — including Al-Ghamdi and Eisa — will attend Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference at Apple Park in Cupertino, California, in June. Their recognition highlights Saudi Arabia's growing presence in global tech innovation, especially among young women.


Arab News
26-05-2025
- Arab News
Trump says US wants to make tanks, not T-shirts
MORRISTOWN, New Jersey: US President Donald Trump said on Sunday his tariff policy was aimed at promoting the domestic manufacturing of tanks and technology products, not sneakers and T-shirts. Speaking to reporters before boarding Air Force One in New Jersey, Trump said he agreed with comments from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on April 29 that the US does not necessarily need a 'booming textile industry' — comments that drew criticism from the National Council of Textile Organizations. 'We're not looking to make sneakers and T-shirts. We want to make military equipment. We want to make big things. We want to do the AI thing with computers,' Trump said. 'I'm not looking to make T-shirts, to be honest. I'm not looking to make socks. We can do that very well in other locations. We are looking to do chips and computers and lots of other things, and tanks and ships,' Trump said. Trump, who has upended world markets with the broad imposition of tariffs, revived his harsh trade rhetoric on Friday when he pushed for a 50 percent tariff on European Union goods starting June 1 and warned Apple he may impose a 25 percent levy on all imported iPhones bought by US consumers.