Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has tweeted that Apple should stop selling iPhones in the UK if the British government succeeds in passing a “stupid” new law completely banning end-to-end encryption. The tweet was reported by the Independent.

[tweet https://twitter.com/jimmy_wales/status/661604239794376704 align=’center’]

The Investigatory Powers Bill would require all Internet and technology companies to hand over to the government any communications data it requests. As things stand, Apple would be unable to comply with this requirement as it uses end-to-end encryption for services like iMessage and FaceTime.

As an illustration of the technological illiteracy of the government’s proposals, it originally wanted to ban encrypted communication altogether. It had to be pointed out to ministers that this would make Internet banking and online shopping illegal …

Apple has come under fire in the U.S. for its uncompromising stance on the privacy of customer data, with DOJ and FBI officials complaining that was Apple winning the PR battle. Apple lobbied Obama to reject similar proposals in the USA.

Photo: Apple Store in Regent Street, London (Foster & Partners)

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