April 29, 2024

Apple Releases Report on Government Information Requests

Posted April 19, 2016 at 2:57pm by iClarified · 8957 views
Apple has released its Report on Government Information Requests for the second half of 2015. The report breaks down the number of Device Requests, Account Requests, and Emergency Requests received by country. It also shows the approximate number of National Security Orders for information and the number of Deletion Requests made.

Here's the number and type of requests received in the U.S. from July 1st to December 31st, 2015.

- Device Requests: 4000 (Information provided in 80% of cases)
- Account Requests: 1015 (Information provided in 82% of cases)
- Emergency Requests: 106
- National Security Orders Received: 1250 - 1499
- Account Deletion Requests: 3

Apple says it provides the maximum amount of details as allowed by law:

For government information requests, we report as much detail as we are legally allowed. When
we receive an account request from law enforcement requesting a customer’s personal
information, we will notify the customer a request concerning their personal data was made
unless we are explicitly prohibited from doing so. We are reserving the right to make exceptions,
such as for extreme situations when we believe disclosing information could put a child or other
person in serious danger, or where notice is not applicable to the underlying facts of the case.


Notably, Microsoft has filed suit against the U.S. government after receiving over 2,500 requests to secretly access customer data in just 18 months. More details on that here.

Hit the link below to read Apple's full Report on Government Information Requests.

Read More