Legislators in the US are calling on the UK for transparency surrounding the ongoing legal issues between the UK Home Office and Apple over encryption.

Five members of the US legislature have penned a letter to the UK Investigatory Powers Tribunal, a special court of the Home Office, urging the body to “remove the cloak of secrecy related to notices given to American technology companies by the UK.”

The letter referenced the alleged notice given to Apple from the Home Office which requested that the tech giant create a ‘backdoor’ to its encryption tools used to secure Apple users iCloud data.

By law, the notice cannot be publicesed, and the Home Office cannot confirm nor deny it issued any such notice.

Following the reporting of the notice, however, Apple withdrew its encryption services from the UK instead of complying with the order.

Now, Apple is appealing the order in a secret court so it can continue offering its encryption tool, known as Advanced Data Protection (ADP), to UK users without compromising its encryption.

US lawmakers have already slammed the UK’s move to change or tamper with the security practices of US-based Apple, with Tulsi Gabbard, the new US national intelligence director, condeming the UK’s order as a violation of civil liberties. 

The new letter, which was sent out on 13 March, a day before the closed-door tribunal, alleged that the Home Office’s request was an effort to “weaken the security of [Apple’s] iCloud backup service to facilitate spying by the UK government.”

The legislators echoed similar complaints from UK advocates pushing for an open hearing, as the notice has been widely reported on.

Lawmakers went on to argue that public hearings would enable a better assessment of the issue by allowing expert evidence to be reviewed from a wider berth of stakeholders, including cyber and privacy experts.

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The case also has implications for public trust – without an open hearing, the public may not be aware on how changes in security offerings can impact the safety of their data, and further, it could erode public trust in decision making if they are left in the dark.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA), Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) and Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH) comprise the signatories of the letter from the US government.

Similar requests were made by the Open Rights Group, Big Brother Watch, and Index on Censorship as well.

The US letter, however, does point to how the case could impact US and UK data flows and adequacy laws.

It was reported that even US President Trump mentioned the encryption case to Prime Minister Keir Starmer on his visit to The White House.