Apple has released an updated edition of its so-called Transparency Report, in which the company regularly reviews the issue of disclosing user data and account information to law enforcement.
An overview of which countries and how often ask Apple to transfer user data and request access to iCloud accounts is published twice a year. The current document covers the first half of 2021 and is available as a 20-page document in PDF.
The most active prosecutors in Germany
What immediately catches the eye after reading the first pages: Apple still receives the most requests for information from the Federal Republic. In the first half of 2021, 9991 requests were formulated in German authorities and official institutions. This means that almost one in two (39.8%) of the 25,104 requests worldwide comes from Germany.
Moreover, Germany not only leads the statistics on the total number of requests submitted, but also takes first place in the ranking of requests that Apple responds to. In 7,711 cases, Apple complied with relevant requests for information and provided user or device data to local authorities.
In addition, Apple disclosed other data. In 833 cases, German investigators wanted to access individual iCloud accounts and see names and addresses, or even backups of photos, email, device backups, contacts, and calendars. Apple granted requests 619 times.
Device theft investigations
According to Apple, an above-average share of requests for information from Germany is related to device theft investigations. Also, there seems to be a particularly high incidence of card fraud in Germany. For example, Apple says that requests for financial information come mainly in connection with gift and credit card fraud investigations.
But, unlike the previous half of the year, during the reporting period, the German authorities did not ask to remove a single application from the App Store. The corresponding requests in the first half of 2021 came this time exclusively from China, Malaysia, South Korea, India, Pakistan, Russia and Brazil.
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