Apple argues Liberals' lawful access bill could put users’ personal data at risk

Public refuge government minister Gary Anandasangaree is veneer mounting calls — including from the shaper of the iPhone — to amend his rule-governed access bill, amid concerns it will weaken digital encryption and introduce cyber-vulnerabilities.  

Bill C-22 would allow police and security officials to more easily obtain Canadians’ private information and intercept communications as part of criminal and intelligence investigations. 

The legislation would also require "electronic service providers" — a broad category that remains undefined but is largely assumed to include tech and telecommunication companies — to update their systems so they can seamlessly turn over information to law enforcement agencies and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, if they have a warrant.  They would also be required to retain metadata for up to one year. 

It's meant to address a problem police and intelligence agencies have long flagged, describing dealing with providers as the Wild West where consistency and reliability are lacking. 

Apple — which uses encryption to secure users' health data, the location of family members, messages, photos, financial data and more — has now publicly waded into the debate.

The company stressed it will work with law enforcement, but warned that Bill C-22 would allow the government to issue orders weakening encryption and create vulnerabilities that hackers and hostile nation states could exploit. 

In a statement Wednesday, the U.S.-based tech giant said that "at a time of rising and pervasive threats from malicious actors seeking access to user information, Bill C-22, as drafted, would undermine our ability to offer the powerful privacy and security features users expect from Apple.

“This legislation could allow the Canadian government to force companies to break encryption by inserting backdoors into their products — something Apple will never do," the statement goes on to say. 

"We will continue our longstanding cooperation with governments to help protect public safety while also advocating tirelessly against any measures that would put users’ personal data at risk."

An Apple official, speaking to reporters on the condition that they not be named, said the company has been frank with the Liberal government about its concerns in hopes of seeing the bill amended, but added there's a difference in opinion on the issue. 

Anandasangare and public safety officials also faced questions from opposition MPs about encryption during a parliamentary committee Tuesday.

Shannon Hiegel, director general of national security policy at Public Safety, called the bill "encryption neutral" and insisted the government isn't asking companies to create back doors or vulnerabilities.

"Companies create all sorts of changes within their systems for purposes that they see fit. We expect, through this piece of legislation, to find safe ways to maintain their cybersecurity," she testified before the public safety committee.

An Apple official said the legal interpretation doesn't back what the government is arguing. They compared it to saying the bill itself doesn't cut a hole in a wall, but allows the government to order someone else to cut a hole in a wall. 

At the end of the day there's still a hole in the wall, said the official. 

Last year, Apple removed its strongest data security tool from customers in the U.K., after the British government asked the company to create the ability to access the content via a back door.

Its Advanced Data Protection program is set up so only account holders can view items such as photos or documents they have stored online through end-to-end encryption.

Asked if Apple would stop offering the advanced service in Canada, an official said it's not something it wants to do, but reiterated that the company will never build what it sees as a back door. 

Conservative MP Frank Caputo, the party's public safety critic, suggested at committee Tuesday that the bill should be updated to address concerns around encryption and include sharper definitions.

Anandasangaree suggested he's open to reviewing the opposition's proposed amendments.

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