Apple has the decryption keys to iCloud... It is one of those things that many people assume the other way given Apple's marketing and PR stands. I for one am

Apple has the decryption keys to iCloud... It is one of those things that many people assume the other way given Apple's marketing and PR stands. I for one am aware of this with iCloud and am still using iCloud for convenience (and by choice). If I were in need of better privacy, I can always use the iPhone without iCloud, and it will work. After this "in phone" watchdog implementation, that will not be the case. I will assume that Apple is constantly watching all my unencrypted content in the worst case, on behalf of state actors and intelligence agencies. We have seen Apple give in to the Chinese government spying because it is the law there. US government could easily ask for this and also apply a gag order preventing Apple from being able to tell the user. The best situation is to lack such a tool.