The governments around the world sent requests for device information on 29,718 Apple devices, with India asking for 27 device requests in the July-December 2017 period.
In connection to an iTunes Gift Card fraud investigation, the Indian government asked Apple to provide information regarding 27 devices and 18 accounts in the January-June 2018 period.
The Cupertino-based tech giant has now revealed that it has provided data in most of the cases.
As reported by IANS, Apple made the revelation in its bi-annual transparency report, which was released on Monday.
The number of requests from India – in various formats such as subpoenas, court orders, warrants or other valid legal requests – also included 34 financial identifiers and three emergency requests, the report said.
For device requests, Apple provided data to the Indian government in 63 per cent of cases and 85 per cent in the cases related to financial identifiers, the company stated.
For account requests, Apple provided data in 78 percent of cases and for all the three emergency requests.
According to Apple’s bi-annual transparency report, the company had provided data in 14 out of 27 requests (52 percent) to the Indian government in the July-December 2017 period.
Transparency report website launched
Apple has now joined the global trend of releasing bi-annually transparency reports, which is followed by several other tech giants, including Facebook and Twitter.
Apple’s new transparency report website has made it easier to scan data requests from various governments. “Apple is committed to your privacy and being transparent about government requests for customer data globally. This report provides information on government requests received,” said the company.
Globally, the company received 32,342 demands from governments to access 1,63,823 devices, with 80 per cent of the requests granted.
In total, the iPhone maker approved more than 25,000 government requests to access customer data in the first half of 2018. It witnessed an almost nine per cent rise in demands in the July-December 2017 period.
The governments around the world sent requests for device information on 29,718 Apple devices, with India asking for 27 device requests in the July-December 2017 period. Overall, the data was provided in 79 percent of cases globally.
Apple’s legal team reviews requests
Apple has disclosed that it regularly receives multi-device requests related to fraud investigations. “Device-based requests generally seek details of customers associated with devices or device connections to Apple services,” said the Cupertino-based company.
However, the company requires government and private entities to follow applicable laws and statutes when requesting customer information and data.
“We contractually require our service providers to abide by the same standard for any government information requests for Apple data. Our legal team reviews requests received to ensure that the requests have a valid legal basis,” the company has said earlier.
“When we receive an account request seeking our customers’ personal information, we notify the customer that we have received a request concerning their personal data except where we are explicitly prohibited by the legal process, by a court order Apple receives, or by applicable law,” it added.
