Apple has released a document which outlines the circumstances under which US customer data will be given to law enforcement officials.
The iPad and iPhone producer posted the guidelines late Wednesday to outline the
information which can and cannot be given to authorities after
disclosure requests, court orders or search warrants are
dispatched.
“These guidelines are provided for use by law enforcement or
other government entities in the U.S. when seeking information
from Apple Inc. ('Apple') about users of Apple's products and
services, or from Apple devices,” they state.
Apple will be able to provide registration details including
names, email addresses, telephone numbers and personal addresses.
Apple support records, iTunes downloads and connection logs could
be procured with a subpoena or court order. However, a search
warrant will be required for the obtaining of content-specific
downloads.
“Requests for information not included within the body of the
signed subpoena, search warrant, or court order will be
disregarded; all information requested must be in the actual
legal process document,” said Apple.
Other details that the |US government could demand of the tech
giant include point of sale transactions, subscriber information,
mail logs, and mailbox content. However, any deleted mailbox
content will be unobtainable.
Apple stated that the guidance could be updated but at present it
stands as it is.
The release of the details follows complaints by Apple and other
industry heads who say that they have been prevented by providing
very much information about data access requests.
Apple have clarified that the company will tell users that their
data is being sought as part of an ongoing criminal investigation
“unless there is a non-disclosure order,” or in other
situations where “we believe in our sole discretion that such
notice may pose immediate risk of serious injury or death to a
member of the public or the case relates to a child endangerment
matter”.
According to a Washington Post report at the beginning of May,
Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, and Google updated their policies to
routinely notify customers when law enforcement has requested
information about them.
Yahoo enacted such a change in July, with the Post reporting that
companies “found that investigators often drop data demands
to avoid having suspects learn of inquiries.”