Bipartisan US lawmakers urge IPT to lift secrecy in Apple iCloud case

Two bipartisan US lawmakers have urged the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) to remove the secrecy surrounding Apple's legal challenge against the UK government's surveillance demands, warning the dispute is needlessly straining relations between the allies.

In an open letter sent to the tribunal ahead of an upcoming case-management hearing, Democratic Senator Ron Wyden and Republican Representative Warren Davidson accused the Home Office of using gagging orders to obstruct congressional oversight. The dispute began in January 2025, when the Home Office issued a technical capability notice under the Investigatory Powers Act (IPA) demanding Apple create a backdoor to access encrypted iCloud backups worldwide, prompting Apple to withdraw its Advanced Data Protection (ADP) encryption feature from UK users.

Although that initial order was replaced with a narrower mandate focusing solely on British accounts, Apple filed a fresh complaint in August challenging the UK government's authority to issue such notices. Wyden and Davidson, who previously pushed the tribunal to permit limited disclosures regarding the proceedings, argued that foreign secrecy directives must not undermine legislative scrutiny or bypass the constitutional authority of the US Congress.

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