Apple and Google have asked the United States to provide names, phone and other data on more than 10,000 users of this app / Boing Boing

The US government has ordered Apple and Google to give him the names, phone numbers and other identification data of at least 10,000 users of an application using a single gun, reports Forbes in an investigation.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is reportedly gathering information as part of a wider investigation into alleged arms export regulations, even if the company itself is not is not under investigation, according to the federal order.

"This type of illegal exports and attempts to export this type of rifle, combined with the manner in which the ATN Obsidian 4 application is associated with this type manufactured by company A, makes it possible to conclude that the information requested will help the Government to identify the illegal export networks of this rifle by identifying end-users located in countries to which the export of this article is restricted, "says the government decree.

"This is an unprecedented move: never before has a case in which US investigators have requested personal data from Apple and Google users belonging to a single application," writes Thomas Brewster, " and never has an order been made public where the federal government has asked. " the giants of Silicon Valley for information on so many thousands of people at once. "

From Forbes:

According to a court order issued by the Department of Justice on Sept. 5, investigators want information about users of Obsidian 4, a tool used to control the riflescopes manufactured by the American Technologies Network night vision specialist. Corp. The application allows gun owners to get a live feed, take a video and calibrate the scope of your gun from an Android device or iPhone. According to the Google Play page for Obsidian 4, it has more than 10,000 downloads. Apple does not provide download numbers, so it's hard to know how many iPhone owners were scanned during the last data acquisition by the government.

If Apple and Google decide to pass on this information, they could include data on thousands of people who have nothing to do with the crimes being investigated, warned activists of the protection of privacy. Edin Omanovic, Privacy International's privacy monitoring program manager, said the order would set a dangerous precedent and "collect huge amounts of innocent personal data."

"Such orders must be based on suspicion and be specified – it is neither the one nor the other," added Omanovic.

Neither Apple nor Google responded to a request for comment at the time of publication. ATN, the scope maker, did not answer either.

This online report states that the Taliban used ATN oscilloscopes.

[image: shutterstock]

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