Apple has warned that changes to a U.K. surveillance law could impact iPhone users' privacy, leading to a shutdown of FaceTime and iMessage. The company's concerns revolve around an update to the U.K. Investigatory Powers Act 2016. The law change would require messaging services to get government approval for their security features before they're released. Under the new proposals, the British Home Office could also force companies to disable features without public disclosure. - The planned changes have raised concerns about mandated backdoors to end-to-end encryption.
- Though end-to-end encryption would not be directly criminalized, the new rules would demand companies to enable scanning for child sexual abuse material.
- Apple said it opposes the changes and would have no choice but to withdraw FaceTime and iMessage from the U.K.
- Other tech giants, including WhatsApp, Signal, and Wikipedia, have also expressed concerns over the potential harm to user privacy and security.
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