Sen. Rand Paul on Wednesday demanded action from Attorney General Pam Bondi on the United Kingdom’s requiring that American tech companies provide access to encrypted data.
The Kentucky Republican senator implied that the U.K. demanding access to American data was a dangerous violation of an agreement between the two nations.
Paul calls the United Kingdom’s interference with Apple “the latest concerning attempt by law enforcement agencies and other government entities to obtaining ‘backdoor’ access to private user content under the pretext of national security.”
In January, the United Kingdom ordered Apple to give it backdoor access to users’ encrypted data. Rather than comply with the order, Apple decided to eliminate its encrypted features for U.K. users altogether and appeal the order to the U.K. Investigatory Powers Tribunal.
The U.K. order, which would also expose American citizens’ data, drew backlash from American officials.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, for instance, ordered intelligence agencies to investigate the attempt to gain access to Americans’ data, calling it “a clear and egregious violation of Americans’ privacy and civil liberties.”
Speaking to a Daily Signal reporter in the Oval Office in February, Vice President JD Vance also addressed the issue.
“There have been infringements on free speech that actually affect not just the British. Of course, what the British do in their own country is up to them—but [they] also affect American technology companies and by extension, American citizens,” he said.
Now, Paul is requesting that Bondi provide all relevant information about the Cloud Act Agreement between the U.S. and the U.K., which established rules for how both countries handle each other’s data.
Specifically, Paul requested “copies of any ‘technical capabilities notice’” issued by the U.K. to American companies.
A technical capabilities notice is an order from a government demanding that a company install a feature into its technology. The U.K.’s demand of backdoor access to encrypted data would qualify as such a notice.
A March 13 letter from a bipartisan group of senators indicates that both Google and Apple have told Congress that, if they received a technical capabilities notice, they would be barred by U.K. law from telling the United States government.
Paul also requested copies of the Cloud Act Agreement, communications between Justice Department officials and the U.K., as well as any information the DOJ might have on past technical capabilities notices and nondisclosure agreements between American companies and the U.K. government.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated since publication.
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