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A comment on European Parliament approves mass surveillance of private communication. Parent comment

Re:European Parliament approves mass surveillance of private... by tpush on Tuesday July 06, 2021 @05:31PM (#27754554)
> [...] as thanks to "Messages in iCloud" (cross-device sync) being on by default [...]

Messages in iCloud is off by default AFAIK.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:European Parliament approves mass surveillance of private... by sneak on Tuesday July 06, 2021 @05:39PM (#27754683)
It's not, but in the case of Messages in iCloud being off, the actual plaintext of the iMessages themselves is included in the (non-e2e) iCloud Backup (which I am 100% positive is on by default).

In the case of MIC being on, then the MIC sync key is included in the (again, non-e2e) iCloud Backup.

MIC on = MIC sync key escrow via iCloud Backup (realtime iMessage content decrypt)

MIC off = iMessage plaintext escrow via iCloud backup (nightly)

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-fbi-icloud-exclusiv...

Before you mention "but you can turn off iCloud Backup!": these default settings affect all of your conversation partners, too, so even if you disable iCloud Backup, it's likely that your messages are still getting escrowed from the devices of the people you talk to.

[ Parent | on HN ]