Apple brings to light the requests for information from the US Government

I would like to clarify in the first place that how could it be otherwise we are referring to the Government of the United States of America. That said, we continue with the information. And it is that from time to time certain information about the movements of the intelligence services of certain countries is declassified. On this occasion, the United States of America comes to the fore again in what they consider a national security activity, and it has been revealed among them the request with which the competent bodies asked Apple for information about its customersAs you are reading it, let's take a look at it.

These reports or declassifications are made by the Cupertino company twice a year, in its drive to maintain the company's transparency as much as possible, although this is somewhat contradicted by the recent information about how long Apple stores our deleted notes from iCloud. Ultimately, Apple has called this "Request for customer reports." 

Here's how Apple describes the report it refers to in its briefing note:

Apple is seriously committed to protecting data, which is why it works to provide the safest hardware, software, and services. We believe that our clients have the right to understand how their personal data is managed and protected. This report provides information about the requests that Apple received from government agencies between July 1 and December 31, 2016.

If you have sufficient knowledge of English, you can access the full report HERE. In short, it reports on requests, more specifically 21.737 requests from government agencies in the United States of America, which were answered 72% of the time.

Ultimately, the United States continues to believe that controlling the privacy of its citizens is the best way to keep its country safe.

The long history of Apple and the American intelligence services

But this does not come from now, no, Apple and especially Tim Cook personally have been very involved in a public, private and even judicial discussion with the FBI. This dates back to the time of the San Bernardino attack, and is that the Government wanted Apple to completely unlock an encrypted phone, more specifically an iPhone 5c, with the intention of getting the data that the possible terrorist housed inside. Faced with Apple's refusal, the FBI chose to directly and indirectly ask the Cupertino company to include back doors in the operating system. To give you an idea, James Comey, the Director of the FBI, has come to publicly question in the media the integrity of Apple as a company and its respect for national security.

Tim Cook, who remained steadfast and seamless, did not give in to the FBI's requests, making it clear that he could not reverse engineer his own software, and that iOS was secure enough to prevent such mechanisms. This is how the FBI decided to go to the fast track. He hired an Israeli company to do this that managed to unlock the iPhone 5c and access his information (we will never really know how). Unfortunately, the FBI did not find any relevant information in the case. This is how the FBI invested the $ 1,3 million in its story.

In this story line, Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, has always maintained the same trend when faced with these assumptions, the Cupertino company is totally convinced that the privacy of its users should prevail, and for this reason it attends the fewest possible government requests. Which contrasts with this report, since Apple itself confirms that 72% of the Government's requests are accepted, although we intuit that the data of the users who request it is much less intensive than that requested in the case of the iPhone 5c.