Apple will launch a global law enforcement web portal to streamline data requests by the end of 2018 [Updated]



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Apple announced this week that it will launch a dedicated web portal in late 2018 for authenticated law enforcement officials to submit legitimate requests for data, track requests, and obtain reactive data from the government. society.

Photo: Alejandro Mejía Greene via Flickr / Creative Commons

Apple also announced that it is setting up a team of professionals dedicated to training law enforcement officers, which should improve its ability to reach police forces and smaller agencies around the world. This will include the development of an online training module for agents.

The web portal will be available worldwide as part of Apple's new Police Support Program, which the company has detailed this week on the Government Inquiries page of its website dedicated to the protection of private life.

Apple says the program will enable it to meet its fundamental commitment to protect the security and privacy of its users:

We believe that law enforcement agencies play a vital role in ensuring the safety of our society, and we have always maintained that if we had information, we would make it available when it received a valid legal process. In recognizing the needs of law enforcement agencies for digital evidence, we have a team of dedicated professionals within our legal department that manages and responds to all legal inquiries from law enforcement agencies. law enforcement on a global scale. Our team also responds to emergency requests around the world, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

We publish guidelines on legal procedures for the government and law enforcement agencies around the world and publish transparency reports twice a year detailing types of requests we receive and how we respond. In addition, we regularly provide law enforcement officers with training on the types of data available from Apple and how to obtain them in accordance with our legal procedures.

By the end of 2018, we will launch the launch of an online portal for authenticated law enforcement officers around the world to submit legitimate requests for data, track requests, and request information. obtain reactive data from Apple.

We are building a team of professionals dedicated to training law enforcement officers around the world, which will greatly increase our ability to reach smaller forces and police agencies. This will include the development of an online training module for agents. This will help Apple train more law enforcement agencies and agents around the world, and ensure that our company's information and advice can be updated to reflect rapid evolution of data.

Apple is committed to protecting the security and privacy of its users. The above developments and the work we do to help investigations meet this fundamental commitment.

Apple requires law enforcement officials and government officials to comply with applicable laws when requesting information and data about customers. If this is the case, Apple complies by providing the closest set of data matching the demand.

This information can include device IDs, customer service records, and iCloud content such as e-mail, stored photos, documents, contacts, calendars, bookmarks, Safari browsing history, Apple Maps search history, iMessages backups, and backups. iOS devices. .

When required by law, Apple may also provide basic customer information such as its name, physical address, email address, phone number and IP address, as well as customer service records and Find My iPhone.

Apple makes sure that it has never created a backdoor or master key for any of its products or services and will never do so. Perhaps the biggest example of this was Apple's refusal to create a loophole for the FBI to sneak into the secret-code iPhone belonging to the shooter during the San Bernardino attack in 2015.

Twice a year, Apple publishes a transparency report outlining the number of requests for data it has received from law enforcement, government, and private party representatives in both the United States and Canada. abroad.

In the United States, for example, during the second half of 2017, Apple received 4,450 requests for 15,168 devices. Apple provided data in 3,548 cases, about 80 percent of the time. Worldwide, Apple received a total of 29,718 requests covering 309,362 devices, providing data in 79% of cases.

Update: Apple is launching these initiatives in response to a recent report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies on Cyber ​​Security Challenges and the Digital Evidence Needs of US Police Services.

Apple adopted all the recommendations of the CSIS report and on Tuesday, Apple's Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Katherine Adams, sent a letter to US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) announcing the launch of several new agencies programs.

The full letter was obtained by MacRumors:

Apple letter to Senator Whitehouse on work with law enforcement agencies by MacRumors on Scribd



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