WASHINGTON — He’s the Tech Veep.
Vice President JD Vance successfully negotiated to have the UK to drop its demand to access Apple user data during rounds of conversations with the British government, a US official said Tuesday.
The UK was originally demanding Apple provide a “backdoor” so the government would have access to user cloud-storage data, which would aid it in getting information about terrorism and other crimes.
The demand from the Brits raised concern in the US, as Republican lawmakers argued it would breach the privacy of people including US citizens.
Vance — who has stressed the need for digital privacy — led the effort in speaking to the British to drop their demands, the official said.
The VP took a particular interest in the issue because of his background in technology, as he worked in the tech sector in San Francisco under PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel.
Vance has also raised concern about the prevalence of AI and how it impacts romantic relationships and has been an advocate against social-media censorship, too, especially in Europe.
He raised the censorship issue during his first major speech abroad as veep, telling Europeans at the Munich Security Conference in February that the threat of censorship on the continent is a bigger issue than Russia or China.
“The threat that I worry the most about vis-à-vis Europe is not Russia, it’s not China, it’s not any other external actor,” he told the officials in Germany.
Us Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was also involved in the negotiations.
“Over the past few months, I’ve been working closely with our partners in the UK, alongside [President Trump] and [Vance] to ensure Americans’ private data remains private and our Constitutional rights and civil liberties are protected,” Gabbard wrote on X.
“As a result, the UK has agreed to drop its mandate for Apple to provide a ‘back door’ that would have enabled access to the protected encrypted data of American citizens and encroached on our civil liberties.”
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