 |
| Because of the Trump administration Apple is embroiled in a new problem |
Apple received a grand jury subpoena on February 6, 2018 that included the names and phone details associated with 109 email addresses and phone numbers.
The request was one of 250 requests for data the company received from US law enforcement agencies on average each week. Apple complies with the law and provides this information.
This year the ban on subpoenas ended.
The New York Times published a report on how the Trump administration's Justice Department used major tech companies to monitor two members of the House Intelligence Committee for media leaks.
Apple said it reminded those who were called to attend, as it does with dozens of customers each day. But this request is very unusual.
Apple inadvertently said it shared data about congressional employees, their families, and at least two members of Congress.
The subpoena is part of a large-scale investigation by the Trump administration into classified leaks of information.
The discovery posed a problem for Apple, and the process showed how tech companies are increasingly dealing with law enforcement inquiries.
Apple has no choice:
Over the past few years, the number of such requests has increased to thousands of times a week, putting Apple and other tech giants like Google and Microsoft in a difficult position between law enforcement, courts and law enforcement agencies; Customers who promise privacy protection.
Companies regularly comply with these requirements because they are legally obligated to do so. Subpoenas can be murky, so Apple, Google and other companies often don't know the nature or subject matter of the investigation.
If the subpoenas are too broad or customer-related, the company can appeal some of the subpoenas. In the first six months of 2020, Apple surveyed 238 government inquiries about its accounts receivable information, accounting for 4% of those inquiries.
With their products becoming increasingly important in people's lives, the world's largest technology companies have become surveillance brokers and law enforcement partners.
An Apple spokesperson said the company regularly questions government data requirements and will inform affected customers as soon as legally possible.
In this case, the federal grand jury subpoena, which includes a confidentiality order, provides no information about the nature of the investigation, and it is nearly impossible for Apple to understand the purpose of the requested information without sharing the user account.
Upon request, Apple has restricted the information you provided to subscriber account information. No content such as emails or photos is submitted.