Getty Images

Apple CEO Tim Cook has warned the UK faces "dire consequences" if it passes the government's recently revealed draft surveillance bill.

The Investigatory Powers Billseeks to give officials permission to capture web browsing metadata of every UK citizen, and would introduce sweeping reforms to oversight procedures. It would also force internet companies to assist investigators in bypassing encryption on messaging apps and other services -- the so-called 'backdoor' requirement.


For Apple, whose iMessage service is one of the two-way encrypted services that would seemingly be affected by that legal obligation, that's a problem. "We believe very strongly in end-to-end encryption and no back doors," Cook told The Telegraph. "We don’t think people want us to read their messages. We don’t feel we have the right to read their emails." "Any back door is a back door for everyone. Everybody wants to crack down on terrorists. Everybody wants to be secure. The question is how. Opening a back door can have very dire consequences."

Cook also argued that data breaches by hackers -- such as the recent attack on TalkTalk and other larger-scale hacks of Sony Pictures and elements of the US government -- show that no storage of people's private data can be totally secure.

If you halt or weaken encryption, the people that you hurt are not the folks that want to do bad things. It's the good people. The other people know where to go Tim Cook

"You can just look around and see all the data breaches that are going on. These things are becoming more frequent," he said. "It's not the case that encryption is a rare thing that only two or three rich companies own and you can regulate them in some way. Encryption is widely available. It may make someone feel good for a moment but it's not really of benefit. If you halt or weaken encryption, the people that you hurt are not the folks that want to do bad things. It's the good people. The other people know where to go."


Cooks comments follow strong criticism of the draft bill by Joseph Cannataci, the UN's special rapporteur on privacy, who described the legislation as "worse than scary".

During his keynote presentation at the Internet Governance Forum in Brazil, Cannataci said "we're now at the stage where for the first time we have an absolute offensive." "Just do a media analysis ladies and gentlemen, do a media analysis of the way the British establishment is trotting out news about the law and the need for the law and ask yourselves the question 'If this is not orchestrated then what is?'"

Other highlights from the interview include: