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A group of bipartisan U.S. lawmakers are urging the head of the U.K.\u2019s surveillance court to hold an open hearing into Apple\u2019s anticipated challenge of an alleged secret U.K. government legal demand.<\/p>\n
U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, along with four other federal lawmakers, said in a letter this week<\/a> to the president of the U.K.\u2019s Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) that it is \u201cin the public interest\u201d that any hearings about the alleged order are not held in secret.<\/p>\n The lawmakers\u2019 letter also says that the alleged U.K. order has barred California-based Apple from engaging in speech that is \u201cconstitutionally protected\u201d under U.S. law, and impedes the lawmakers\u2019 ability to conduct congressional oversight.<\/p>\n The Washington Post<\/a> revealed in February that the U.K. government had earlier this year secretly ordered Apple to create a \u201cbackdoor,\u201d<\/a> allowing U.K. authorities to access the cloud-stored data of any Apple customer worldwide. Apple, which is legally barred from disclosing or commenting on the so-called \u201ctechnical capabilities notice,\u201d reportedly refused and pulled its Advanced Data Protection iCloud data-encryption feature<\/a> from U.K. customers, rather than comply with the backdoor order.<\/p>\n The U.K.\u2019s Investigatory Powers Tribunal<\/a>, which hears legal cases related to the use of U.K. surveillance powers, is scheduled to hear a private petition on Friday, per the tribunal\u2019s public schedule<\/a>. The hearing reportedly relates to Apple, according to Wyden\u2019s letter.<\/p>\n Apple did not comment when reached by TechCrunch on Friday.<\/p>\n The U.K. government has so far declined to comment on operational matters, which includes \u201cconfirming or denying the existence of any such notices,\u201d per a spokesperson\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s not clear how many companies have received a technical demand from the U.K. government.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to the lawmakers\u2019 letter, Google \u201calso recently told Senator Wyden\u2019s office that, if it had received a technical capabilities notice, it would be prohibited from disclosing that fact.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Two civil rights groups, Liberty and Privacy International, are also challenging the U.K. government\u2019s backdoor order<\/a> via legal submission to the IPT. The pair have also called for the oversight body\u2019s hearing into Apple\u2019s appeal to be held in public, joining similar calls earlier this week<\/a> by privacy rights groups.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n