Apple says that the "vast majority" of the requests for information that it gets from law enforcement are queries related to lost or stolen devices.
On Tuesday, Apple released a "Report on Government Information Request" (PDF) to inform its customers about how their personal information is handled and to provide assurances that it does as much as it can to protect their privacy.
"These types of requests frequently arise when our customers ask the police to assist them with a lost or stolen iPhone, or when law enforcement has recovered a shipment of stolen devices," Apple said in the report.
By contrast, Apple said, only a "small fraction" of the requests are in pursuit of personal information related to an iTunes, iCloud, or Game Center account.
Apple's report comes after nearly half a year of dramatic revelations about widespread online surveillance conducted by the US National Security Agency and other government bodies, initiated by leaked documents made public by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
Given that backdrop, Apple sought to offer reassurances about how it attempts to safeguard the personal information of its iPad, iPhone, Mac and other customers.
"Our business does not depend on collecting personal data," Apple said in its report. "We have no interest in amassing personal information about our customers. We protect personal conversations by providing end-to-end encryption over iMessage and FaceTime. We do not store location data, Maps searches, or Siri requests in any identifiable form."
Still, Apple -- and other tech companies -- face limits on coming clean about government information requests. The US government imposes restrictions on what those companies can say about national security letters they've received. Apple and other companies including Google and Microsoft have been pushing to have such gag orders eased and arguing for greater transparency on the NSA's surveillance operations.
via apple - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNFyWgLbJVAzxbOqMp1xK9Ry9g0E0A&url=http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57610965-37/apple-privacy-report-details-government-queries/
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