A London court hearing, reported to be Apple's appeal against a British government order to create a "back door" to its encrypted cloud storage systems, was held in secret on Friday, with media not allowed to attend despite a formal request.

U.K. rights groups have asked a British court to open a hearing Friday on Apple’s bid to avoid building spy capability into its encrypted cloud storage.

A secretive London court hearing involves Apple's appeal against a UK order to create a 'back door' to its encrypted cloud storage. This follows a 'technical capability notice' issued by Britain, demanding access to encrypted messages.