cross-posted from: https://feddit.de/post/8646326
The amendments to the Investigatory Powers Bill, allegedly intended to make people safer, will undoubtedly make UK digital infrastructure a tempting target as the regulations will be weaken security there. The biggest problem for Apple, other than the steady erosion of encryption, is that essential security and privacy updates might be delayed or never appear — and without any transparency or scrutiny at all.
If passed, the law would mean that every tech security update must be reviewed by UK authorities before release, which will immediately delay distribution of vital security patches.
Hackers will immediately see this means any patched vulnerabilities will be secured in the UK last, making the nation an incredibly attractive target to attack. Hackers are organized enough to spot and exploit weakness. It’s what they do.
And if the UK rejects an update, that update cannot be released in any other nation and the public would not be informed of the decision.
Would be nice if hackers could target the idiots implementing these legal changes. Make them feel the pain of their stupidity first
The amendments to the Investigatory Powers Bill, allegedly intended to make people safer
Nothing about those amendments have anything to do with keeping people safer. Fucking twats.
We’re living in an upside down world when corporations are trying to protect us from the government, instead of the other way around.
Does this specifically just relate to Apple, or is this all updates for anything i.e. linux ones, device firmware etc?
Apple just have better lawyers.
It would presumably apply to any tech company operating in the UK, including those developing Linux distributions like Canonical and Ubuntu.
“if the UK rejects an update, that update cannot be released in any other nation and the public would not be informed of the decision.”
I get that nations can insist on all sorts of things from businesses that want access to their market, and that companies only comply if the finances still stack in their favour.
Is the UK really valuable enough to consumer tech companies, relative to the rest of the world combined, or is this some feint as part of a different negotiation entirely?