Apple shares customer data with Indian govt on request: Report

Tech giant Apple Inc. has shared the data of its Indian customers at the request of the government, The Economic Times reported citing a Transparency Report published by the company.

Apple revealed that it provided the details of 27 devices and 18 accounts in the January-June 2018 period to the Indian government owing to an investigation of an iTunes Gift Card fraud, the report added.

The report detailed many of the government's request including 34 financial identifiers and three emergency requests.

According to the report, Apple provided the data to the government on devices in 63% of the cases and 85% of cases related to financial identifiers.

For account requests, Apple provided data in 78% of cases and for emergency requests, it offered all (100%) the data.

In the July-December 2017 period, Apple had provided data in 14 out of 27 requests (52%) to the Indian government.

“High number of financial identifiers were specified in requests predominantly due to an iTunes Gift Card fraud investigation,” the company said.

Globally, Apple received 32,342 demands from governments to access 1,63,823 devices out of which 25,000 demands came in the first half of 2018. According to the report, Apple granted 80% of these requests.

“Apple is committed to your privacy and being transparent about government requests for customer data globally. This report provides information on government requests received," the ET report said citing Apple.

“Apple regularly receives multi-device requests related to fraud investigations. Device-based requests generally seek details of customers associated with devices or device connections to Apple services,” the ET report added.

When a government or private entity requests for customer data, Apple notifies the customer. But the firm does not provide the data in cases where it is prohibited by law, the report stated, citing the Cupertino-based company.