Apple Releases Aggregate Data On Government Snooping Requests
By Ian Bush
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Apple Computer Corp. is detailing just how much information it has revealed to US government spies as part of the NSA's "Prism" surveillance program, which collects our phone records and other content.
Apple says the feds, state, and local authorities made requests for data from about 10,000 devices or accounts.
Most commonly, Apple says, they heard from authorities looking into robberies and other crimes, searching for missing children or people with Alzheimer's disease, or attempts to prevent suicide.
In a statement on the Apple web site, officials say they provide "the narrowest possible set of information" and, when "inconsistencies or inaccuracies" arise, the company "will refuse to fulfill" the request.
Apple says conversations over iMessage and FaceTime are encrypted, so no one but the sender and receiver can see them.
Apple collects location information from iPhones and iPads, as well as map and Siri searches, but it says it doesn't store them in way that the dots could be connected back to the user.
