By Stephen Nellis | REUTERS
Two U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday sent a letter to President Donald Trump’s administration urging an end to a data agreement with the U.K. and to renegotiate a new one in the wake of reports that the U.K. ordered Apple to build a backdoor to access encrypted user data.
Ohio Republican Jim Jordan, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, and Arizona Republican Andy Biggs, who chairs a subcommittee on surveillance, asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to end the U.S.-U.K. agreement made under the CLOUD Act.
That agreement, which has been in place since 2019 and was renewed last year, allows the U.K. government to ask U.S. companies such as Apple to hand over data during criminal investigations – but not if the targets are U.S. citizens.
The two members of the U.S. House of Representatives urged Bondi to “renegotiate it to adequately protect American citizens from foreign government surveillance,” according to the letter, which was seen by Reuters.
The Washington Post in February reported that the British government ordered Apple to build a system that would give it powers to view end-to-end encrypted data uploaded by Apple users anywhere in the world – an unprecedented demand that the U.K. said is aimed at crime prevention and the pursuit of criminals.
Apple withdrew its Advanced Data Protection feature for U.K. users later that month and is appealing the order.
The U.K. order sparked concern among U.S. officials that it could violate the CLOUD Act agreement between the countries by allowing the U.K. to obtain the data of U.S. citizens.
CLOUD stands for “clarifying lawful overseas use of data.”
“We are … concerned that the order exposes all Apple users, including American citizens, to unnecessary surveillance and could enable foreign adversaries and nefarious actors to infiltrate such a backdoor,” the U.S. lawmakers wrote.
Editor’s Note: Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Christopher Cushing
