the current law does not allow them to no comply. they can go to court, but they would be required to comply in the meantime.
unfortunately the UK law says not complying is a criminal offense, not just an administrative un compliance. so apple employees would be liable to criminal charges.
this is very bad but it’s the draconian UK laws the problem here.
I’m conflicted on what would have been the best course of action.
if they would have fought this (in private) I assume people would assume they were complying. so the only option would have been to break UK law and fight it publicly. I am not sure that was feasible.
but this also just creates a precedent for other countries push apple to do the same
they did define themselves as leeches recently
saying the gulf of Mexico is an US location is like saying the Pacific Ocean is an US location.
it is worse when you notice than other places with two names do not use that schema.
Google maps shows “Rio Bravo” only when in spanish not Rio Bravo (Rio Grande).
even github was not available for many people.
It’s reasonable to assume Google has been served that same request. it just has not been confirmed to any outlet.
Most platforms did not had e2e back in 2013. now most offer it (thought sometimes it is optional)
it would take you 2 minutes to look for that info. it is readily available.
also a war crime
I enjoyed reading this a lot. thanks for sharing
also I don’t think they offer e2e encryption for what the UK demanded.
afaik they provide e2ee for messages and mail but not photos or drive, which apple did encrypt e2e when ADP was enabled.