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Apple to provide online tool for police to request data: letter
Apple Inc plans to create an online tool for police to formally request data about its users and to assemble a team to train police about what data can and cannot be obtained from the iPhone maker, according to a company letter seen by Reuters. The letter, dated Sept. 4, was from Apple General Counsel Kate Adams to U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat from Rhode Island. Apple declined to comment beyond the letter.
Apple can and does provide some user data, such as data stored in its iCloud online service, to law enforcement officials if they make a valid legal request. But Apple has sparred with U.S. law enforcement officials because it encrypts its devices in such a way that Apple cannot access the devices if asked to do so.
The company said in its letter that it had responded to 14,000 U.S. law enforcement requests last year, including 231 "domestic emergency requests," that it largely addressed within 20 minutes of receipt "regardless of the time of day or night."
Apple previously handled those requests via email, a company spokesman confirmed. By the end of this year, Apple will provide an online tool for law enforcement officials to make and track requests, according to its letter.
MacRumors obtained the letter. Apple's changes are a response to a recent Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) report.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by requerdanos on Friday September 07 2018, @02:40PM (1 child)
Shame on them. I know they are themselves victims here of intrusive law enforcement, but they don't have to be inforaped quite so cheerfully.
Let's consider a block of victims, all of whom are suspected/accused by officials of having committed some crime (whether they did or not, and in most cases it's "did not"), Law Enforcement, and Apple.
The Best Interests Of Law Enforcement: To hell with privacy, to hell with anything standing in the way of getting all the "evidence" we can and trying to make it stick against someone so an investigation will have been "successful".
The Best Interests Of Apple Computer: Give up whatever we easily can as quickly as we can. Be molested by law enforcement as little as possible by rolling over on our users.
The Best Interests Of The Individuals: Reasonably expectation of privacy and quiet enjoyment of their lives.
As you can see, there is not a lot of overlap among the best interests of these three groups.
The best interests of the individual--that's you--in particular are only of concern to you; your "law enforcement" is interested in your best interest only because it stands in their way. You may be certain they are not looking out for it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 08 2018, @08:04PM
they can't say no and get away with saying no forever.
what they are doing is making an easy interface for people not good with computers or asking nicely for info, to just access some minimalistic portal to do search queries and maybe get a 'folder' of stuff.
otherwise they would have to dedicate a team of people to do it. the robots and scripting can provide the results, someone just has to make the dedicated website for law enforcement to use.
google and microsoft already did it; apple is the only one left.