The U.K. government dropped a plan that would have allowed it to access the contents of any online message looking for illegal content. It had sought a way around the encryption that protects messaging services like iMessage and WhatsApp.
Apple threatened to disable iMessage and FaceTime in the UK rather than submit to the proposal on the grounds that it would completely compromise the privacy of all users. Other companies said the same about their apps.
The U.K. government has proposed an update to the Investigatory Powers Act that Apple and other tech companies strongly oppose because it they argue it would substantially weaken the security of their messaging applications.
The updated act would allow the government to require security features in the apps be disabled immediately and without informing users.
Apple reportedly warned that it’ll disable iMessage and FaceTime in the UK before it’ll comply with the law.
Apple is expanding iPhone 14’s Emergency SOS via satellite feature to more countries. The feature is now available to iPhone 14 owners in the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Ireland starting today.
Emergency SOS was only available in the United States and Canada so far. Apple previously confirmed the feature would expand to more countries in December.
Armed criminals carried out a daylight robbery of the Apple store in Covent Garden in London’s West End. The thieves reportedly got away with stolen Macs, iPhone and iPads.
Grab-and-run raids on Apple stores aren’t unusual, but it’s very rare for the perpetrators to be armed. No one was injured in Sunday’s U.K. incident, though.
A UK consumer rights advocate filed a £750m claim accusing Apple of slowing down handsets as old as the iPhone 6. This is over “Batterygate,” a controversy that first erupted way back in 2017 and has long since been settled in the U.S. and other countries.
Even so, a bad decision from five years ago has come back to haunt the company.
Apple will soon begin rolling out in the United Kingdom a tool intended to protect children from sexual predators. The Messages application will be able to detect if a child’s iPhone gets or sends sexually explicit photos.
The feature is already available in the United States.
Cyberflashing, sharing unsolicited sexual image via social media, could soon be a crime in the U.K. That specifically includes using Apple’s AirDrop to send a nearby stranger a picture of your junk.
Just… don’t do it. For a lot of reasons. Including the fact that you don’t want to spend up to two years in prison.
The U.K. government has backed Apple’s plan to scan user photos for child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and is offering rewards of up to £85,000 ($117,600) to other technology firms who can develop new tools to keep children safe.
Home Secretary Priti Patel, who this week announced the Safety Tech Challenge Fund, called on “Big Tech” to take responsibility for public safety and find ways to monitor online platforms protected by encryption.
Spotify’s accusation to the European Union that Apple uses its control of the App Store to squeeze out competition reportedly will soon result in antitrust charges being filed against the iPhone-maker. This comes on the same day the UK begins an investigation of the App Store.
The two antitrust agencies could force Apple to lower the commissions it charges software developers. Or even require rival iPhone app stores.
Mobile phone operators in the United Kingdom will be banned from selling locked handsets from December 2021. This will stop companies from selling phones or other devices that are locked to one network and can only be unlocked for a fee.
Telecoms regular Ofcom first suggested the ban in December 2019, although it has only been made official today. This should make it easier for customers to switch networks if they wish.
