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The Telegraph and nine other media organisations have successfully challenged an attempt by Yvette Cooper to keep details of her legal battle with Apple a secret.
Apple is challenging a technical capability notice issued by the Home Secretary demanding that the tech giant break the advanced data protection (ADP) feature that encrypts iPhone backups, allowing the Government to access user data.
Lawyers for Ms Cooper had applied for a gagging order that would have prevented the “bare details” of the case from being made public. They argued that revealing details of the case would be damaging to both public interest and national security.
But in a ruling issued on Monday, Lord Justice Singh, the president of the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT), and Mr Justice Johnson dismissed the Home Secretary’s application, concluding that the case did not warrant total secrecy.
It comes after The Telegraph and media outlets including the BBC, Guardian, Financial Times, Sun and Times campaigned for open justice.
They argued that the media should be able to make effective and informed submissions against gagging orders, while PA Media called for the least restrictive measures.
Five members of Congress wrote to the tribunal warning that Ms Cooper’s “cloak of secrecy” put the special relationship between the US and UK at risk. Campaign groups including Liberty and Privacy International also opposed the gagging attempt.
The legal battle between the Home Office and Apple has been shrouded in secrecy as UK surveillance laws prohibit the disclosure of back-door orders.
The existence of the order and Apple’s appeal have only emerged through media reports and the company’s decision to axe the ADP feature for British users.
The ADP, which was introduced in 2022, allows users to protect iPhone backups such as messages and photos with end-to-end encryption, meaning the company and security services are unable to access it.
Apple removed the opt-in feature in Britain in February, saying it was “gravely disappointed” by the Government’s actions. The move prompted accusations that Ms Cooper had put millions of iPhone users’ data at risk.
The victory comes after a hearing was held in secret last month, with the names of the parties involved omitted from the listing on the tribunal’s website.
The Home Office had lobbied for total secrecy with no public listing of the hearing, but the judges ruled this would be a “most fundamental interference with the principle of open justice”.
In their ruling, the judges said it may be possible for some or all future hearings to incorporate a public element, with or without reporting restrictions. However, they said it was not possible to make a ruling on this at the current stage.
The Home Office has refused to comment on the existence of the order. While Apple is blocked from revealing the existence of the order, it has previously warned that it would withdraw features such as ADP rather than build a back door.