11/07/2013 10:15 | By TODAY via Channelnewsasia
S'pore requested user details of 23 individual accounts from Apple
Law enforcement agencies in Singapore requested the personal details of 23 individual accounts from Apple in the first half of this year.
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SINGAPORE: Law enforcement agencies here requested the personal details of 23 individual accounts from Apple in the first half of this year, the tech giant revealed in an inaugural report on information requests made by governments around the world.
During the same period, the Singapore Government also made 1,681 requests for information - including identifiers such as serial numbers - about lost or stolen devices.
Overall, Apple rejected nine of Singapore's requests. The reasons it gave for objecting to any country's request included its "excessive scope" or "improper process".
The report, published on Tuesday, comes after a series of disclosures made by other tech giants - Facebook, Yahoo! and Google - which similarly said they had given user details to governments, including Singapore.
A written parliamentary reply by Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs last month had said the information had been obtained from the companies to aid investigations into offences such as corruption, terrorist threats, theft, gambling and vice.
Apple said the main reason for requesting user details worldwide were similarly for cases that were criminal in nature, such as robberies or kidnappings. In the case of devices, details could have been sought when law enforcement agencies had recovered a shipment of stolen devices, or when the authorities were helping customers whose iPhones were lost or stolen.
The seven-page report covered 31 countries and territories whose governments had asked for user data, of which the United States led the way with requests for between 2,000 and 3,000 accounts.
In Asia, China had six requests, while Hong Kong wanted details for 33 accounts, and Taiwan and South Korea made four requests each.
Apple said most data asked for included information in iTunes and iCloud accounts, such as addresses, phone numbers, credit card details and other personal identifiers.
It sought to reassure customers that their privacy is being protected as far as possible. It explained that government agencies needed to obtain a court order first, which would have to be reviewed by Apple's legal team.
- TODAY
