Cybersecurity Policy Report, Americans Should Be Informed About Privacy Threat From U.K. Surveillance Law, Wyden Says, (Jul 30, 2025)
Organizations Mentioned:Apple | Director of National Intelligence
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard should issue a public assessment of how the United Kingdom’s surveillance laws might endanger the privacy and security of Americans’ data, according to Sen. Ron Wyden (D., Ore.).
In a letter to Ms. Gabbard, Sen. Wyden recalled that the privacy threat posed by U.K. surveillance was exposed earlier this year in news reports about an order issued by the U.K.’s Home Office requiring Apple, Inc., to provide U.K. authorities access to the communications of Apple’s customers worldwide (CPR, Feb. 13).
Other providers of encrypted communication services might be subject to similar orders, Sen. Wyden noted, but the public wouldn’t necessarily know because U.K. law prohibits disclosure of such orders.
“I am concerned that the threat posed by the U.K.’s surveillance laws is not limited to demanding that U.S. companies weaken their encryption with backdoors. I am concerned that under the Investigatory Powers Act 2016 (IPA), the U.K. could also secretly force U.S. companies to store the data of U.S. users in the U.K., where it could then be seized by the U.K government,” he told Ms. Gabbard.
“My office has repeatedly asked the U.K. Embassy to clarify the scope of its controversial surveillance law, and sought assurances that it could not be used to collect Americans’ communications,” Sen. Wyden said.
“While the U.K. Embassy has clarified that the IPA cannot be used to force U.S. companies to make a U.K.-based copy of existing data held in the U.S., the U.K. Embassy has not denied the concerns raised by my office that the IPA could be used to force U.S. companies to store newly created U.S. customer data in the U.K., instead of in the U.S. as the companies would normally do. Such U.K.-located data could then be seized by the U.K. government,” he said.
“The cybersecurity of Americans’ communications and digital lives must be defended against foreign threats,” he added. “Accordingly, I urge you to provide Congress and the American public with a frank assessment of the national security risks posed by the U.K.’s surveillance laws and its reported secret demands of U.S. companies.”
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