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They don’t need to. All of the photos and iMessages are stored in iCloud without e2ee (nobody has ADP turned on, and it’s blocked in the UK anyway) and Apple provides the data to the Five Eyes without a warrant.

This is already the status quo in the US. The fact that ADP is offered as an option is irrelevant.



> nobody has ADP turned on

This isn't the type of question I normally ask people, so it sounds like you've made a bad guess here and are treating your own assumption as fact. You are incorrect; I have ADP turned on.

> Apple provides the data to the Five Eyes without a warrant.

Source? Or are you assuming here, too?

> The fact that ADP is offered as an option is irrelevant.

Only if you think no one uses it.


On warrantless access: Apple’s own transparency report says they turn over data on roughly 100k users per year to US government without a warrant.

ADP adoption: https://daringfireball.net/linked/2023/12/05/icloud-advanced...


Don’t be glib. Of all Apple device users, those who have ADP enabled are almost certainly a rounding error.


Once you turn it on, you can only see your files and photos on other trusted Apple devices.

So anyone that has a Windows machine that has iCloud sync to their machine can’t use it.


> Don't be glib

followed by

> almost certainly

with zero links. Sure, I'll take your word for it.


Do you really think that most users enable such a feature? Do you think everyone compiles their own Linux kernel, and port forwards for their own Minecraft server, too?

No, it’s a feature tucked away in Settings where small, small percentages of users are going to use it.

It’s great that it exists, but let’s listen to life experience. You don’t need to retort “Source! Source!” for things like this. Be our guest, ask everyone in your life and keep a tally.


I've got it on. I don't take any other extensive means to protect my security but this was very easy and felt worth it given the honeypot of info living in my phone.

There may, in fact, be dozens of us.


> Do you really think that most users enable such a feature?

No one is claiming most people use it. You are claiming no one or essentially no one uses it, which is untrue.

> but let’s listen to life experience

Your life experience is apparently that you don't use ADP, so therefore no one uses ADP. This is not a useful data point.

> You don’t need to retort “Source! Source!”

So... you don't have a source?

> Be our guest, ask everyone in your life and keep a tally.

As I stated in my first response to you, it isn't a question most people ask so I'm not sure why you'd think a few comments later my take on this would change.


https://support.apple.com/en-us/102651#:~:text=Advanced%20Da...

Lots of things to fault apple about. This likely is not one of them.


> likely

These load-bearing assumptions are part of Apple's issue.

Anyone can write a whitepaper, keeping a transparent SBOM is a different level of commitment.


That is only true with ADP on, and it’s disabled in the UK. Look directly above it.


This must be a response to the headline, without reading the article. It's specifically users' ADP content that the UK gov wants to be able to access.


It's encrypted iCloud backups, not ADP.

ADP hasn't been available in the UK for some time now.


It's ADP. That's why Apple didn't reinstate ADP in the UK. The UK wants a backdoor for UK users of ADP.

And there are plenty of UK users of ADP - those who got in before it was banned still have it.

From the article:

> After the U.K. government first issued the TCN in January, Apple was forced to either create a backdoor or block its Advanced Data Protection feature

> the US claimed the U.K. withdrew the demand, but Apple did not re-enable Advanced Data Protection

> The new order provides insight into why: the U.K. was just rewriting it to only apply to British users


perhaps you overlooked the literal first line?

> The Financial Times reports that the U.K. is once again demanding that Apple create a backdoor into its encrypted backup services.

If you read further, or click the FT link, you'll see the UK is now demanding access to encrypted iPhone backups.

ADP is not relevant beyond the history; the UK is not doing anything with ADP but I understand the confusion if you don't know that "iPhone iCloud backup" is a separate service for iPhones.




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