Apple says it complied with government requests for account information 90% of the time during the first half of 2019

The transparency data released by Apple yesterday covers the first half of 2019 (January 1st to June 30th to be more precise). A chart posted by Apple covering government requests for account data reveals that the U.S. government made 3,619 such requests during the aforementioned time period. 15,377 specific Apple accounts were mentioned in these requests. According to Apple, it complied with the requests and turned over at least some data 90% of the time. The information covered by these requests include “details of customers’ iTunes or iCloud accounts, such as a name and address; and in certain instances customers’ iCloud content, such as stored photos, email, iOS device backups, contacts or calendars.”

This data released by Apple indicates that the president and his top law enforcement official are trying to manipulate Apple into doing something that the company feels would not be in the best interests of iPhone users worldwide (the president being one of them, we should point out). Barr hinted that he might seek a court order to force Apple to open Alshamrani’s phones, but then again why should Apple be forced to comply with a court order requested by an administration that constantly disregards them?

Barr wants Apple and other tech firms to create a backdoor that would allow the government access to personal data it has a court order to obtain. But in the hands of certain government officials, this possibility is frightening. Even some FBI officials concur that Apple has been a big help to law enforcement. Defending the use of encryption, the company says, “Law enforcement has access to more data than ever before in history, so Americans do not have to choose between weakening encryption and solving investigations. We feel strongly encryption is vital to protecting our country and our users’ data.”