Apple Got Up to 5,000 Data Requests in Six Months
Source: Reuters
Apple got up to 5,000 data requests in six months
Mon Jun 17, 2013 3:08am EDT
(Reuters) - Apple received over the last six months between 4,000 and 5,000 requests for customer data from U.S. law enforcement authorities relating to criminal investigations and national security matters, the company said on Monday.
Microsoft and Facebook Inc published similar data last week after reaching a deal about disclosures with U.S. national security authorities.
"We have asked the U.S. government for permission to report how many requests we receive related to national security and how we handle them. We have been authorized to share some of that data," Apple said.
In a statement posted on its website Apple said that the requests were received from December 1 2012 to May 31 2013, and between 9,000 and 10,000 accounts or devices were specified in those requests, which came from federal, state and local authorities.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE95G04220130617
ReRe
(10,597 posts)K&R
... 4,000-5,000 in the last 6 months. And how many others are there, around 50-60 companies that have internet info? The total requests must amount to a ludicrous number. OK, how many terrorist attacks did they thwart with all that info?
onehandle
(51,122 posts)I can guarantee you, that they want as much of the nature of all this revealed, as soon as possible.
Apples Commitment to Customer Privacy
Two weeks ago, when technology companies were accused of indiscriminately sharing customer data with government agencies, Apple issued a clear response: We first heard of the governments Prism program when news organizations asked us about it on June 6. We do not provide any government agency with direct access to our servers, and any government agency requesting customer content must get a court order.
Like several other companies, we have asked the U.S. government for permission to report how many requests we receive related to national security and how we handle them. We have been authorized to share some of that data, and we are providing it here in the interest of transparency.
From December 1, 2012 to May 31, 2013, Apple received between 4,000 and 5,000 requests from U.S. law enforcement for customer data. Between 9,000 and 10,000 accounts or devices were specified in those requests, which came from federal, state and local authorities and included both criminal investigations and national security matters. The most common form of request comes from police investigating robberies and other crimes, searching for missing children, trying to locate a patient with Alzheimers disease, or hoping to prevent a suicide.
Regardless of the circumstances, our Legal team conducts an evaluation of each request and, only if appropriate, we retrieve and deliver the narrowest possible set of information to the authorities. In fact, from time to time when we see inconsistencies or inaccuracies in a request, we will refuse to fulfill it.
Apple has always placed a priority on protecting our customers personal data, and we dont collect or maintain a mountain of personal details about our customers in the first place. There are certain categories of information which we do not provide to law enforcement or any other group because we choose not to retain it.
For example, conversations which take place over iMessage and FaceTime are protected by end-to-end encryption so no one but the sender and receiver can see or read them. Apple cannot decrypt that data. Similarly, we do not store data related to customers location, Map searches or Siri requests in any identifiable form.
We will continue to work hard to strike the right balance between fulfilling our legal responsibilities and protecting our customers privacy as they expect and deserve.
http://www.apple.com/apples-commitment-to-customer-privacy
gussmith
(280 posts)Just because you can does not mean that you should.
Sanity Claws
(21,849 posts)Does anyone know whether Apple or the others are entitled to charge for the costs involved in responding to these requests? Or does Apple have to carry the costs themselves?
These requests must place quite a burden on these companies, regardless of whether they are able to recover the costs from the government.
JoePhilly
(27,787 posts)from the link ...
WOW ... what a scary police state we live in.
Anyone notice that requests such as these are not the type that would go through the FISA courts?