Apple’s latest transparency report says the company usually helps the government when asked, despite the resistance it showed to a request and court order that it help the FBI unlock an iPhone in California.
According to the company’s report, law enforcement asked for assistance 4,000 times with 16,112 devices in the second half of 2015. The company provided that assistance 80 percent of the time.
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Apple also received 1,015 requests for help accessing 5,192 user accounts, such as iTunes and iCloud accounts. Of those, the company complied 82 percent of the time.
Apple has a policy of complying with most government requests to access unencrypted data. However, beginning with its iOS 8 operating system, Apple devices began using an encryption key tied to a user’s password. The company’s policy is not to provide assistance bypassing that encryption, which went into effect in September 2014.
Terrorists in San Bernardino used an iPhone 5c using a 9th generation operating system. The FBI’s high profile legal battle with the company sought to force its engineers to create a method of preserving data on the device while the agency went through the permutations involved with hacking the password. Normally, data on the device is wiped after the tenth failed password.
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The government dropped the case after it located a third party willing to sell what was likely the same software solution, though FBI Director James Comey has said it will not work on newer iPhones.
Apple’s Monday report added that it received between 1,250 and 1,500 National Security Letters or letters under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Recipients of those requests are simultaneously served with a gag order that prevents disclosure of what they entail. They most often include requests for IP addresses, records of online purchases, locational data, and other personal information.
