United Kingdom

The United Kingdom is a country containing Britain, England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

Consumer Protection

Despite leaving the EU, the UK enforces the GDPR^[1], allowing persons physically located within the UK the ability to request data exports and deletions from online services^[2].

Incidents

In 2016, a UK man was charged with obstruction for not handing over his encryption passwords at an airport stop in London^[3].

In February 2025, it came to light that the UK ordered Apple to implement what many consider a backdoor into iCloud for data not protected by ADP (an opt-in, disabled service for UK residents)^[4].

References

[1] ttps://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/data-protection-and-the-eu/data-protection-and-the-eu-in-detail/the-uk-gdpr/

[2] ttps://www.vpaa.uillinois.edu/resources/policies/u_of_i_system_and_international_privacy_laws/the_eu_and_uk_general_data_protection_regulations

[3] ttps://www.theverge.com/2017/5/17/15653786/rabbani-encryption-password-charged-terrorism-uk-airport

[4] ttps://techcrunch.com/2025/02/21/apple-pulls-icloud-end-to-end-encryption-feature-for-uk-users-after-government-demanded-backdoor/

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