Court rejects Home Office demand for secrecy in Apple ADP hearings

A judgement by the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) has rejected the UK government's demand for complete secrecy surrounding a legal challenge filed by Apple against the Home Office. Apple launched an appeal after the Home Office issued a Technical Capability Notice (TCN) under the Investigatory Powers Act (IPA) requiring the company to create a back door into its Advanced Data Protection (ADP) iCloud encryption.

Shortly after, a coalition of civil liberties groups and news organisations made a submission to the court, arguing against proceedings taking in place in secret and calling for open justice.

In issuing its judgement, the IPT dismissed the government's argument that even revealing the identities of Apple and the Home Office as parties in the case would harm national security. 

While the ruling allows for the confirmation of the bare details of the case, it did not definitively decide whether future hearings would be entirely open to the public. However, the tribunal left open the possibility of incorporating a public element in subsequent proceedings, potentially with reporting restrictions. 

In a statement, Jim Killock, Executive Director of Open Rights Group said: "This is bigger than the UK and Apple. The Court's judgment will have implications for the privacy and security of millions of people around the world. Such an important decision cannot be made behind closed doors and we welcome the IPT's decision to bring parts of the hearing into the open so that there can be some public scrutiny of the UK government's decisions to attack technologies that keep us safe online."

Meanwhile, a statement by Ioannis Kouvakas, Senior Legal Officer and Assistant General Counsel at Privacy International, said: "We welcome the Tribunal's rejection of the UK government's push for ultimate secrecy on this important case. Executive decisions affecting the privacy and security of billions of people globally should be open to legal challenge in the most transparent way possible. We will be moving forward with our complaint before the IPT and we will be seeing the UK Government in court."

Related articles: 

• Apple IPT hearing to be held in secret, petition launched against backdoor
• UK government Technical Capability Notices need greater transparency
• Apple removes Advanced Data Protection encryption from UK market