Director Dominic Holden comments on the news that Apple is set to withdraw its Advanced Data Protection feature from the UK, following a dispute with the Home Office over end-to-end encryption and enabling government access to user data. 

Dominic’s comments were published in TechRound, 26 February 2025, and can be found here.

Dominic’s comments are replicated below:

“Balancing privacy rights with the needs of national security is a tightrope that tech companies walk daily. In this case, it appears Apple have begun to teeter.

“End-to-end encryption allows users to more effectively secure their data and better protect it from hackers and other bad actors. However, it can also allow criminals to plot and conduct illicit activity.

“Aside from whether the public trust that a back door such as this will not be misused by the government, the danger of a back door is that it also creates a vulnerability which a hacker may be able to exploit.

“Apple’s decision to withdraw UK user’s ability to encrypt data removes an effective weapon to protect against hacking, whilst hackers and other bad actors will likely migrate to alternative encrypted services that the government cannot access.”