Apple warns against Canadian bill that could weaken encryption

Apple and Meta are publicly opposing a new Canadian bill that could force tech companies to break encryption or build backdoors into their products. Here are the details.

New country, old issue

Last year, Apple entered into a high-profile dispute with the British government after the UK ordered forcing companies to put back doors in their encryption systems.

This prompted Apple to stop offering Advanced Data Protection to new users in the country, while existing users will eventually be required to turn it off. The British government has released information about this ended in withdrawal Under the pressure of the United States.

At the time, Apple made it clear that it has never “(d) created a backdoor or master key to any of its products or services and will not.”

This very public debate reignited the debate over government access to encrypted Apple user data. San Bernardino When the FBI made a similar request before dropping it later find another way Access your iPhone without Apple’s help.

Fast forward to today, and Apple is facing a potentially similar situation again, this time in Canada. As reported Reutersthe new bill could give the government the power to force companies to break encryption or build backdoors into their products.

offer, Known as Bill C-22will expand investigative tools available to Canadian law enforcement agencies to access digital data related to criminal investigations.

While it doesn’t specifically mention encryption, Apple argues that the proposal’s access powers could still be used to force companies to weaken encrypted services.

Here is Apple Reuters:

“As drafted, Bill C-22 would undermine our ability to provide the strong privacy and security features that users have come to expect from Apple at a time of growing and widespread threats from malicious actors seeking access to user data. (…) This legislation could allow the Canadian government to force companies to break encryption by never including backdoors in Apple’s products.”

While the bill is still being debated in the House of Commons, Reuters notes that it was proposed “by the ruling Liberal Party of Canada, which won a parliamentary majority last month.”

Apple’s concerns were echoed by Meta, whose executives said in a prepared statement that “as drafted, the bill could require companies like Meta to build or maintain capabilities that break, weaken or bypass encryption or other zero-knowledge security architectures, and could force providers to install government spyware directly on their systems.”

To read Reutersfull report, follow this link.

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