Apple has launched openly the transparency report corresponding to the second half of the year 2020. The period that includes from July to December of last year, it is seen that there is a downward trend not only in government requests but also in the responses of the company to those requests. The increase in requests from the Chinese government is striking.
During the period that includes July to December 2020, Government authorities around the world have been requesting certain data from Apple for different reasons. It must be borne in mind that compared to the same period but in 2019, a downward trend is clearly seen. There is a decrease in the requests and in the responses that Apple has given. We assume that the pandemic has had a lot to do with it.
Apple says it received requests during the second half of 2020 covering 83.307 devices. This is less than half of what there was during the same period in 2019. The American company provided data on 77% of those requests, representing an 80% decrease. The CNET report notes that the drastic decrease in requests is particularly interesting because it corresponds to the period in which they occurred the presidential elections in the USA.
Germany made the highest number of device data requests, sending data requests for 16.819 devices, compared to 19.633 in the second half of 2019. But the increase in requests made by the Chinese government is strikingly striking. It searched for data on 11.372 devices, a major increase compared to the 851 applications in the previous year.
Regarding the US and in the most critical period, such as the elections. Apple said the requests related to national security made by the US. By virtue of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Law (FISA) were targeting up to 24.499 accounts. Up to 499 FBI national security letters for subscriber information, including 999 accounts.
Regarding the requests regarding the App Store: It received 39 requests for removal of legal violations covering 206 applications. China received 26 of these applications covering 90 applications, followed by India which submitted six applications covering 102 applications. Apple removed the 206 requested apps.
