Not happy with Apple about this obviously but I’m laying the blame squarely at the feet of the UK government; faced with the choice, it was inevitable that Apple would throw UK users in the fire rather than dilute their global brand. - ThreadSky

ottocr.at • 6 days ago

Not happy with Apple about this obviously but I’m laying the blame squarely at the feet of the UK government; faced with the choice, it was inevitable that Apple would throw UK users in the fire rather than dilute their global brand.

Reposted from Sky News

Apple removes advanced security tool over UK government row

Comments

equiton.net•6 days ago

This is a symptom of the fundamental problem of capitalism.

Large companies begin to challenge governments.

If the current course continues, the world will be run by Amazon, Musk, Apple and Alibaba and so forth. They will make the laws and rule the earth.

Do we really want that?

macphoenix.com•6 days ago

In this case, it really looks like the UK is forcing Apple's hand.

gellyfish.uk•6 days ago

And the dumb thing is that it still doesn't prevent people encrypting stuff in a way that the government can't get at.

Frankly outraged and I haven't got any skin in this particular game having not owned any Apple products since I bought a second hand Apple II more than thirty years ago.

joshalexcairo.bsky.social•6 days ago

Apple had no good choice.

Capitulate to a government and compromise user data. Fashy option.

Refuse to cooperate until a court orders you to remove your software/hardware from UK market. Dumb option.

Protect global user data. The UK gov is left to blame for hurting its own. Least worst option.

ottocr.at•6 days ago

I agree with this. What will be interesting is whether other jurisdictions follow suit.

philcave.bsky.social•6 days ago

#BoycottUSA tech

ziggyman.bsky.social•6 days ago

Easy, stop buying Apple products. It will soon change its mind.

joshalexcairo.bsky.social•6 days ago

Apple literally just took the hit on the British market to protect its global users. Their whole point is they're not changing their mind and won't capitulate to governments.

Most users will see that, including in the UK, and side with Apple.

I've never bought Apple but they have my support.

whisperingwind.co.uk•6 days ago

I looked at ADP a while ago out of curiosity. Setting it up is non trivial so I imagine anyone with good cause to use it will find an alternative. There’s a secure/private version of Android used by investigative journalists.

whisperingwind.co.uk•6 days ago

Found it. https://grapheneos.org/

angharadhafod.bsky.social•6 days ago

Sigh. I knew right from the time that cloud storage started to become a thing that it was a bad idea. I don't understand why so many other people didn't get it, and yet still use cloud storage.

Keep your own files and make sure you do regular backups (scheduled, ideally). Why is this not obvious?

whisperingwind.co.uk•6 days ago

Cloud storage is great for keeping files in sync across multiple devices. Backup is off site to safe even if building burns down. For those who need privacy, there are excellent secure alternatives to iCloud.

angharadhafod.bsky.social•6 days ago

It's not that difficult to have a 24-hours on low power server though.

I backup on two other devices, and once in a while take an encrypted SSD out of the house just in case of the worst.

whisperingwind.co.uk•6 days ago

If that works for you, that's great. I enjoy the convenience of iCloud.

ottocr.at•6 days ago

I think you undersell the advantages of cloud storage. Apple’s brand is heavily invested in data privacy which has long been a reason I’ve favoured them. Not thinking my government would be stupid enough to do what it’s done.

angharadhafod.bsky.social•6 days ago

I've always avoided it, and very deliberately.
Yes I'm feeling a bit smug at the moment, but I guess I'm entitled to that.

ottocr.at•6 days ago

It will be annoying but easy enough to take my documents off cloud storage. But there’s no taking email, messages etc offline. And photos… I’m all in on cloud storage for photos.

angharadhafod.bsky.social•6 days ago

For email, with an IMAP account, move older emails to a local folder and make sure they are truly removed from the server (it's not as simple as it should be on Gmail).

All my photos are locally stored. One has to turn off cloud backup in the photo app (on android, anyway) but it's easy enough.

ottocr.at•6 days ago

I know how to do it, that’s not the issue. I want to be able to access my photos on all my many devices, and I have over a terabyte of them. Unless I set up a home media server, cloud is the only way. And home servers also bring security issues, quite apart from being much clunkier.

vegascookies.bsky.social•6 days ago

How many ppl will still buy the new iPhone when released or switch to android?

ottocr.at•6 days ago

Android won’t be any different.

macphoenix.com•6 days ago

Apple choice to pull it may be because the UK wanted worldwide access and would force Apple to do it in secret.

https://daringfireball.net/2025/02/apple_pulls_advanced_data_protection_from_the_uk

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