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In a world in which privacy is a hot-button issue, we might have expected Brits to be outraged that their government was responsible for Apple withdrawing Advanced Data Protection from the UK. In reality, its gone largely unremarked. A new Bloomberg piece suggests thats because people care far less about privacy than they claim. While I do think theres some truth to that, its not the primary reason What is Advanced Data Protection?To start from the beginning for non-techies, there are two primary forms of encryption. In standard encryption, the company storing the data holds a copy of your encryption key, so if a government comes along and demands that it hand over your data, the company can do so.With strong encryption, aka end-to-end encryption (E2EE), only your devices hold the key. If a government asks Apple to hand over copies of your iMessages, for example, it cannot do so because the company doesnt have the key needed to decrypt them.Apple has historically used a mix of weak and strong encryption, but Advanced Data Protection (ADP) allows you to switch on E2EE for almost all of your data. Apple introduced this as an option just over two years ago. You can learn more in our video explainer below.Brits losing ADPThe British government wasnt very happy about ADP, and demanded that Apple build a backdoor into iCloud not just for the personal data of British citizens, but for all iCloud users worldwide.As we noted at the time, we knew from Apples past behavior that it was never going to agree to this.Sure enough, the company refused, stating that it would instead withdraw access to ADP for UK customers. This took immediate effect for those not yet using it, who are now unable to toggle it on, while existing users have been told well have to switch it off at some point or lose access to iCloud.Everything you need to know about Apples changes to encryption in the UKBloomberg suggests Brits dont careDespite what I described as an outrageous move, theres been remarkably little fuss about it in either UK media or on social media. Bloombergs Parmy Olson suggests this is because people dont care as much about privacy as they claim.Theres been little pushback, much less uproar, from the Brits about Apples policy change. The [] muted response suggests something troubling for Apple: Customers dont care about privacy as much as the company thinks.The so-called privacy paradox, well-documented inacademic research, refers to the gap between the concerns people say they have about their data and what they actually do about it.I do think there is some degree of truth to this. There is certainly evidence that people will sacrifice privacy to get or retain access to products and services they like. But its mostly that people dont understand this stuffBut the main reason theres been little fuss about the loss of ADP in the UK isnt that people dont care about the loss of privacy, but because they didnt even know the feature existed.Apple kept it toggled off by default, and thats for understandable reasons. When Apple holds a copy of your encryption key, it can help you regain access to your data if you forget your iCloud password even if you didnt set up a recovery option. If you use ADP, then Apple wont be able to help because it doesnt have access.But because ADP needs to be manually enabled, theres no reason a non-techy user would even have heard about it. Even Olson a technology journalist for Bloomberg seemingly wasnt using it herself.Im an iCloud customer myself, and trying to activate the feature now leads to [the error] message.The lack of outrage isnt surprising, but does matterSo the lack of outrage isnt surprising. Most people dont know the difference between weak and strong encryption, had never heard of ADP, and dont have it enabled.But it does matter. The UK is hardly the only country to want backdoor access to our data, and when other governments see the lack of fuss over this, they are likely to make the same demand so that Apple is forced to switch off ADP in their country too. That most certainly includes the US.If Apple wants to head that one off at the pass, it needs to make this a major issue. Brief mainstream media on exactly what all this stuff means, and why it matters. Generate (justifiable) outrage in the UK to deter other governments from doing the same thing.It will be much easier for Apple to fight for ADP in the US if its customers already know what it is, why they should be using it, and have it enabled. Photo byPhilipp KatzenbergeronUnsplashAdd 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel
