Although some existing users still have it for now, Apple said in a statement it was “gravely disappointed” that it could no longer offer ADP in the UK.
“Enhancing the security of cloud storage with end-to-end encryption is more urgent than ever before,” it said, citing rising incidents of data breaches and cyber attacks.
“Apple remains committed to offering our users the highest level of security for their personal data and are hopeful that we will be able to do so in the future in the United Kingdom,” the company added.
“As we have said many times before, we have never built a backdoor or master key to any of our products or services and we never will.”
The firm cannot legally comment on the existence of these orders because they are supposed to be kept secret.
But a judge sided with a coalition of civil liberties groups and news organisations, including the BBC, to rule that the legal row between the government and Apple could not be held in secret.
“By using a secret order to undermine the security of Apple products, the UK Government is making security harder for us all,” said Caroline Wilson Palow, legal director for Privacy International, in a statement.
“If this new order isn’t stopped, the UK Government will likely issue similar orders to other companies, too.”
