The Special Envoy on Intelligence and Law Enforcement Data Sharing is a British creation of the diplomatic corps at Cabinet level to report on, and facilitate dialogue between the executive branch of government and technology firms, often global in nature, that provide service in the internet realm.
Sheinwald said that the British still struggled to obtain access to data, but since he was appointed, cooperation on the most urgent requests, "particularly in the areas of counter-terrorism and other threat-to-life and child-protection cases" with the US companies had increased.
"[8] One newspaper characterised the report as saying that existing international laws will never be enough to persuade US internet companies to hand over their customers’ personal data to the British police in urgent counter-terrorism cases.
[9] Also on 25 June 2015, an unpublished report from the Special Envoy recommended that a new bilateral treaty be negotiated to force the cooperation of U.S. internet companies, in order to provide a legal, front-door alternative to the Snooper's Charter surveillance scheme.
[12] One report noted that, due to the Edward Snowden uproar and WikiLeaks-NSA fallout that had occurred contemporaneously, Apple CEO Tim Cook had "taken a moral stance in defence of individual privacy" over end-to-end encryption.