The Washington Post is reporting that the UK authorities have issued Apple a “technical capability notice” defined by the 2016 Investigatory Powers Act, mandating it to dismantle the Advanced Data Protection encryption in iCloud for the purpose of assisting law enforcement.

This is significant, and something we within the security sector have feared would occur for some time now.

The legislation, referred to by detractors as the Snoopers’ Charter, criminalizes any disclosure that the government has made such a request. An Apple representative chose not to comment.

Apple has the option to contest the U.K. capability notice before a confidential technical committee, which would evaluate arguments regarding the financial burden of the requirement, and to a judge who would assess whether the request was commensurate with the government’s needs. However, the law does not allow Apple to postpone compliance while an appeal is underway.

In March, when the company was informed that such a requirement might be imminent, it addressed Parliament: “There is no justification for the U.K. [government] to possess the authority to determine for global citizens whether they can benefit from the proven security advantages that arise from end-to-end encryption.”

Apple is expected to disable the feature for UK customers instead of compromising it for users globally. Naturally, UK users might be able to fake their location. However, this may not suffice. According to the legislation, Apple would be unable to provide the feature to anyone present in the UK at any time: for instance, a traveler from the United States.

So, what unfolds next? Australia has a law granting it the power to request the same thing. Will it? Will an increasing number of nations follow suit?

This is insanity.