Apple To begin alerting users of government data requests
Apple’s CEO Tim Cook has been fighting for surveillance transparency.
Last January during an interview with ABC he stated
“I’ve been pushing very, very hard to open the books and be totally transparent. Much of what has been said isn’t true; there is no back door. The government doesn’t have access to our servers. They would have to cart us out in a box for that. And that just will not happen. ”
Tim has been making good in his fight.
Kristin Huguet
Kristin Huguet a spokeswoman for Apple announced
“later this month. Apple will update its policies so that in most cases when law enforcement requests personal information about a customer, the customer will receive a notification from Apple. ”
We should see Apple’s policy’s changes to reflect this later this month.
These changes would mean you would be advised if and when any government body is examining your data. As with anything, there are always exceptions like the FBI and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance court investigations who could still view and seize your data without having to report it.
Apple has seemed to pave the way through technology and this is no different. The Washington Post also reports that other companies such as Google. Microsoft and Facebook will soon follow with alerts of their own.