Apple Removes Data Protection Tool in UK Amid Privacy Row

London, Feb 21 (PTI) Tech giant Apple on Friday said it was “gravely disappointed” that its Advanced Data Protection (ADP) security tool will no longer be available to its users in the UK following a data privacy clash with the government.

ADP is a tool offered to Apple customers to ensure only account holders can access photos or documents they have stored online through the Cloud as part of end-to-end encryption.

However, according to US media reports earlier this month, the British government had sought access to such data as part of efforts to crack down on criminal activities like terrorism and child abuse.

"We are gravely disappointed that the protections provided by ADP will not be available to our customers in the UK given the continuing rise of data breaches and other threats to customer privacy," the California-headquartered tech major said in a statement.

"Enhancing the security of cloud storage with end-to-end encryption is more urgent than ever before. Apple remains committed to offering our users the highest level of security for their data and is hopeful that we will be able to do so in the future in the United Kingdom,” it said.

While the UK Home Office has refused to comment on the issue, ‘The Washington Post' had quoted US sources as saying that Apple was likely to stop offering encrypted storage in the UK after the Home Office served the multinational company with a Technical Capability Notice – ordering it to provide access under the UK's Investigatory Powers Act of 2016.

"We do not comment on operational matters, including for example confirming or denying the existence of any such notices," the Home Office said.

User data that has standard encryption is already accessible by Apple and shareable with law enforcement based on the requisite warrant. Now, users who already had the data protection tool turned on "will eventually need to disable this security feature", according to Apple.