Apple Shares Unencrypted iMessage Metadata With Cops
- Commerce Times
- Oct 6, 2016
- 1 min read
Apple last week faced renewed scrutiny for its data-sharing practices, following a report that it retains iMessage metadata and shares it with law enforcement when presented with a court order.
The company for months has insisted that it would not share data that would jeopardize the privacy and trust of its millions of customers.
iMessage encryption does prevent Apple from accessing the actual content of conversations, but the company maintains for up to 30 days phone logs that contain a range of information, including contacts, IP addresses, and dates and times of conversations, The Intercept reported.
Masking Metadata
Using encrypted iPhones is a very secure way to protect the content of electronic conversations, but it is possible to glean a great deal of information from metadata, observed Jacob Ginsberg, senior director at Echoworx.
"Metadata and information about who you are contacting, when presented in a bulk manner, is incredibly sensitive," he told the E-Commerce Times. "It's nothing to be scoffed at."
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