Apple is ready to hand over data on push notifications, but will do so only through the court
Apple is tightening the requirements for transferring data on push notifications on its customers’ smartphones to law enforcement agencies. The company will now seek a court order to do so, writes Reuters.
The iPhone manufacturer has not officially announced the new policy. However, the relevant information appeared in the company’s publicly available document.
Apple is making the changes following a recent statement by U.S. Senator Ron Wyden that governments are spying on smartphone users through push notifications in apps. In a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice, the politician said that foreign officials are demanding data from Google and Apple.
As you know, push notifications inform smartphone owners about incoming messages, breaking news, and other updates. But people often don’t know that almost all such notifications go through Google and Apple servers.
The U.S. senator explained that this gives these companies unique information about the traffic coming from apps to users. This puts them “in a unique position to facilitate government surveillance of how users use certain apps.” Apple and Google have acknowledged that they have received such requests.