A few weeks ago I told you that Apple was accused of providing confidential information to the American authorities, other large US companies being part of the scandal. IN A published letter this morning on its website, the Apple company states that in the last 6 months it has received up to 5000 requests from American government agencies and the police for the provision of confidential user information. Apple claims that these requests were made as part of criminal or national security investigations, that its legal department investigated each request and provided only as little relevant information as possible.
From December 1, 2012 to May 31, 2013, Apple received between 4,000 and 5,000 requests from US law enforcement for customer data. Between 9,000 and 10,000 accounts or devices were specified in those requests, which came from federal, state and local authorities and included both criminal investigations and national security matters. The most common form of request comes from police investigating robberies and other crimes, searching for missing children, trying to locate a patient with Alzheimer's disease, or hoping to prevent a suicide.
The company further claims that its legal department makes sure that the answers given to these requests do not affect the private life of the users, that its purpose is to protect our confidential information and the rest you can imagine how it looks. Basically, Apple is now trying to defend itself against accusations that affect its image, but Google, Microsoft, FaceBook, Yahoo! and other companies have the same problem, so users will have no choice but to accept the situation.
