US Lawmakers Push for Public Hearing on UK’s Alleged Apple Backdoor Order

US Lawmakers Push for Public Hearing on UK’s Alleged Apple Backdoor Order

A group of bipartisan U.S. lawmakers are urging the head of the U.K.’s surveillance court to hold an open hearing into Apple’s anticipated challenge of an alleged secret U.K. government legal demand. Images: Google U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, along with four other federal lawmakers, said in a letter this week to the president of the U.K.’s Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) that it is “in the public interest” that any hearings about the alleged order are not held in secret. The lawmakers’ letter also says that the alleged U.K. order has barred California-based Apple from engaging in speech that is “constitutionally protected” under U.S. law and impedes the lawmakers’ ability to conduct congressional oversight. The Washington Post revealed in February that the U.K. government had earlier this year secretly ordered Apple to create a “backdoor,” allowing U.K. authorities to access the cloud-stored data of any Apple customer worldwide. Apple, which is legally barred from disclosing or commenting…