Apple releases two reports each year on how customer data is requested by governments and private parties as part of its privacy effort. While the reports are generally fairly general, the latest report released this week includes a notable change from previous versions…
Apple’s latest “Report on Government and Private Party Requests for Customer Information” covering the period between July 1 and December 31 last year includes one declassified national security letter during the six month period, which The Verge notes is a first for this disclosure report.
Here’s how Apple describes the report:
And here’s how Apple frames the disclosure about the declassified national security letter it received last year:
You can see the disclosure on table 7 of the full report here or specifically below:
The report only details the number of declassified national security letters received, of course, and not what the letter relates to for obvious reasons. Apple and the FBI very publicly disputed at the beginning of last year over the issue of cracking an iPhone 5c used in a high-profile shooting, but almost all other requests are handled quietly out of the public spotlight.
For example, Apple’s report says data from devices was provided in 72% of the requests made during the six month period detailed which includes 21,737 device requests.
