Apple has filed a legal complaint at the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) challenging a fresh UK government demand for "back door" access to encrypted iCloud data, after the Home Office previously abandoned a similar request last year. The company is disputing the government's underlying power to issue such "technical capability notices" (TCNs) under the Investigatory Powers Act, arguing the practice undermines the security of encrypted data and could expose users to bad actors or unintended law enforcement access.

The new TCN, issued after last year's transatlantic row, applies only to British users' data rather than to both UK and US customers as originally demanded. The case, filed last month and first reported by the Financial Times, has been flagged to human rights group Privacy International, which along with Liberty is pursuing a related complaint against TCNs and has asked for proceedings to be held in public; a case management hearing is scheduled for next month. Apple withdrew its Advanced Data Protection encryption tool for UK customers in January 2025 rather than comply with the original order, while neither Apple nor the Home Office can legally comment on the details of TCNs.