Apple Received 30,000 Device Information Requests From Governments

The governments around the world sent requests for device information on 29,718 Apple devices, with India asking for 27 device requests in the July-December 2017 period, the iPhone maker has revealed. Overall, the data was provided in 79 percent of cases, Apple said in its bi-annual transparency report made available on Friday. In case of India, the data was provided in 14 out of 27 requests (52 percent). The governments and private parties around the world also requested information on 3,358 Apple accounts and data was provided in 82 percent of cases.

"Examples of such requests are where law enforcement agencies are working on behalf of customers who have requested assistance locating lost or stolen devices. "Additionally, Apple regularly receives multi-device requests related to fraud investigations. Device-based requests generally seek details of customers associated with devices or device connections to Apple services," the Cupertino-based company said. Private party request circumstances generally relate to instances where private litigants are involved in either civil or criminal proceedings.

The tech giant said that starting with the period July 1-December 31, 2018, it will "report on government requests to take down Apps from the App Store in instances related to alleged violations of legal and/or policy provisions". Apple requires government and private entities to follow applicable laws and statutes when requesting customer information and data. "We contractually require our service providers to abide by the same standard for any government information requests for Apple data. Our legal team reviews requests received to ensure that the requests have a valid legal basis, a company said.

"When we receive an account request seeking our customers' personal information, we notify the customer that we have received a request concerning their personal data except where we are explicitly prohibited by the legal process, by a court order Apple receives, or by applicable law," it added.

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