Earlier this month Apple announced its decision to notify customers of law enforcement requests for user information. Today the company also published a new set of guidelines for law enforcement officials regarding how it will handle such requests, what types of information can be obtained, and more.
Most of the document contains information regular customers won’t ever need to know, but for those interested in Apple’s participation in the legal process will find a wealth of information here. The document also confirms once again that Apple will notify users in most cases where law enforcement requests their personal information:
A frequently-asked questions section includes answers to a variety of common concerns, including whether Apple can (or will) intercept user emails and other communications, including iMessage and FaceTime calls:
Much of the information is pretty straightforward: Apple can’t give law enforcement officials the passcode to a locked iOS device, geolocation data for active iOS devices is not stored by Apple and thus cannot be turned over to law enforcement, and so on.
Apple can intercept users’ email communications, upon receipt of a valid Wiretap Order. Apple cannot intercept users’ iMessage or FaceTime communications as these communications are end-to-end encrypted.
You can find the entire lengthy document on Apple’s legal web page.
