No, that's no the case in all countries, and probably shouldn't be the case in any country, but UK is pretty weird like that, so I don't know about UK.
But in US, the law says companies must provide the data unecrypted ONLY IF THEY CAN DO THAT. So if they're using strong end-to-end encryption, the law should be on their side, since they can't decrypt the data themselves. Only the users can.
That's why the FBI was making such a big deal about Apple encryting the data with the user's key in the press. Because they knew they can't do anything about it, and the best they could hope for is to make it a big enough scandal that Congress will pass a law against such encryption.
And the reason I said this is how it should work in all countries is because it's common sense. If companies can't do something, then they can't be forced to do it. But as I said, in UK you could go to prison even if you forgot your password, and they ask your for your drive's password. That's an illogical law, but I guess that's what UK citizens get for not having a Constitution: illogical and abusive laws from the government that trample people's rights.
Its a little I Knox to say that when the U.S. is willing to break the laws of other countries when it suits them. Accessing EU data from the US is certainly illegal under that. The fact that the EU commission hasn't done anything about it is mother issue entirely.
I wont debate specifics of the letter of the law because I don't know them, but im not convinced you do either.
But in US, the law says companies must provide the data unecrypted ONLY IF THEY CAN DO THAT. So if they're using strong end-to-end encryption, the law should be on their side, since they can't decrypt the data themselves. Only the users can.
That's why the FBI was making such a big deal about Apple encryting the data with the user's key in the press. Because they knew they can't do anything about it, and the best they could hope for is to make it a big enough scandal that Congress will pass a law against such encryption.
And the reason I said this is how it should work in all countries is because it's common sense. If companies can't do something, then they can't be forced to do it. But as I said, in UK you could go to prison even if you forgot your password, and they ask your for your drive's password. That's an illogical law, but I guess that's what UK citizens get for not having a Constitution: illogical and abusive laws from the government that trample people's rights.