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Transparency Report: Government requests for customer data globally

123 points by zachguo 8y ago

zachguo 8y ago
To compare the stats across countries, it's helpful to factor in mobile OS market share and population size. http://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/mobile/worldwide http://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/mobile/worldwide Also, transparency report for USA: https://www.apple.com/legal/transparency/us.html https://www.apple.com/legal/transparency/us.html
- mc32 8y ago
  Belarus, Costa Rica, small as they are, contrast significantly with Germany and Singapore.
  - a012 8y ago
    The market share of Android vs iOS in Singapore is interesting, I guess because iPhone Xs (max).
    - bunnycorn 8y ago
      What the hell happened in Singapore? http://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/mobile/singapore http://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/mobile/singapore It went from 87% to Android in July 2018 to being neck and neck with iOS. Don't believe everyone tosssed their Androids for an iPhone.
      - blackstrips 8y ago
        Why would you not believe that? Changing phones isn’t a big deal when upgrading. Guess the iPhone X’s full screen design was a hit - seen quite a few people on the train here with them; I’m quite surprised given the pricing of the iPhone X line, guess there are more more with cash to spare than I thought. Maybe even some people bought the iPhone X for the gaming performance.
        bunnycorn 8y ago
        In not putting in cause the quality of the iPhone. But the iPhone X didn't came in mid-2018 to cause such a crackdown.
        izacus 8y ago
        Such a hit that would cause a 30(!)% marketshare change?
      - Twisell 8y ago
        I think the metric depend on the network of sites that provide the metric. So a lake of suffisent input from popular website of a country could bias result for such a country. And a shift in the network could result on a shift on the data. The question that remain is was is more accurate before or does this shift result of a better accuracy.
- gumby 8y ago
  Why was this parent comment downvoted? It provided useful resources.
  - balibebas 8y ago
    Meta. This is HN. Full of doudgebag liberals
lunchladydoris 8y ago
Dang, Germany! What happened there? That is a huge outlier.
- fbelzile 8y ago
  They seem to acknowledge it and explain: > High volume of device requests predominantly due to stolen devices investigations. > High number of financial identifier requests predominantly due to iTunes Gift Card and credit card fraud investigations.
  - siruncledrew 8y ago
    Does this mean the Polizei actively work on recovering stolen devices and money for public cases? That’s more of an impactful effort than the “We’ll see if it turns up” guarantee of American police, which basically means S.O.L.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- hspak 8y ago
  It looks like they've consistently been on the high end judging by their past few years: https://www.apple.com/legal/transparency/de.html https://www.apple.com/legal/transparency/de.html
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
Moodles 8y ago
It is quite hard to put this in context without the general Apple usage and crime rate in these countries.
gumby 8y ago
Australia has quite an enormous number per population.
- kenhwang 8y ago
  Germany has far worse ratios.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
aasasd 8y ago
For others trying to figure out how to see countries besides Andorra on a phone: swipe horizontally on the country "card."
CapacitorSet 8y ago
It's mildly surprising to see countries of the "free world" ask Apple for user data much more often than some authoritarian governments or dictatorships - compare UK, US, AU, DE, FR, ES with HU, RU, CN, TR.
- orcdork 8y ago
  Authoritarian goverments & dictatorships don't need to ask a phone maker for data, they have already existing structures of surveilance (not to mention their targets don't get to say no to using that fingerprint code).
  - good_guy 8y ago
    Yep, countries in "free world" don't do that. LOL.
  - ssijak 8y ago
    Yeah sure, and US, UK, Germany, Australia and others do not have surveillance at all.
- cronix 8y ago
  Yes, but it doesn't state anywhere on the origins of the targets of the requests, only the gov't that made the request. It could contain requests for data on foreign citizens traveling to/in the country.
- SirHound 8y ago
  Yeah but we dont simply disappear as a result of what they receive.
- chewz 8y ago
  On the contrary. Compare Poland and Germany for example. (Poland - 32 device requests and 14 thousand identifiers vs Germany 13 704 device requests and 26 thousand identifiers). It show that when Poland targets people in bulk while Germany targets specific individuals (each probably requires separate judical order). Poland famously in 2H2014 made request for data of half a million iPhone users (80% requests for data worldwide). FYI Poland is not at war, under terrorist threat and it is relatively peaceful country but the government like to keep their hands in citizens pockets and it's special branches are out of control.
kgwxd 8y ago
"requests"
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
torgian 8y ago
I'm kinda surprised how many NSA requests were sent through in the US... compared to China. Why? WTF?
- lern_too_spel 8y ago
  Apple already gave China access to all Chinese iCloud data. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/02/5-things-you-need-to-know-about-apple-in-china/ https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/02/5-things-you-...
- educationdata 8y ago
  Why would Chinese government ask Apple for help when they can directly get user data from ISP and Tencent? Chinese local police can read people chat messages in real time.
  - lostmsu 8y ago
    Can they read iMessages?
    - educationdata 8y ago
      Even Apple can't read iMessage. I guess in this case they will simply force you to unlock your iPhone to let them read everything in it.
      - a012 8y ago
        IIRC, they can't read message data but message metadata, sometimes that's enough for authorities.
- jonnybgood 8y ago
  I don’t see any where stating the organization that made the request. How do you know it’s NSA? I’d imagine it’s more likely the FBI.
DyslexicAtheist 8y ago
Bosnia, Herzegovina, Croatia, Albania, Montenegro, ... seems like most of the Western Balkan hasn't requested anything

123 points by zachguo 8y ago

To compare the stats across countries, it's helpful to factor in mobile OS market share and population size. http://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/mobile/worldwide http://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/mobile/worldwide Also, transparency report for USA: https://www.apple.com/legal/transparency/us.html https://www.apple.com/legal/transparency/us.html

mc32 8y ago
Belarus, Costa Rica, small as they are, contrast significantly with Germany and Singapore.
- a012 8y ago
  The market share of Android vs iOS in Singapore is interesting, I guess because iPhone Xs (max).
  - bunnycorn 8y ago
    What the hell happened in Singapore? http://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/mobile/singapore http://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/mobile/singapore It went from 87% to Android in July 2018 to being neck and neck with iOS. Don't believe everyone tosssed their Androids for an iPhone.
    - blackstrips 8y ago
      Why would you not believe that? Changing phones isn’t a big deal when upgrading. Guess the iPhone X’s full screen design was a hit - seen quite a few people on the train here with them; I’m quite surprised given the pricing of the iPhone X line, guess there are more more with cash to spare than I thought. Maybe even some people bought the iPhone X for the gaming performance.
      - bunnycorn 8y ago
        In not putting in cause the quality of the iPhone. But the iPhone X didn't came in mid-2018 to cause such a crackdown.
      - izacus 8y ago
        Such a hit that would cause a 30(!)% marketshare change?
    - Twisell 8y ago
      I think the metric depend on the network of sites that provide the metric. So a lake of suffisent input from popular website of a country could bias result for such a country. And a shift in the network could result on a shift on the data. The question that remain is was is more accurate before or does this shift result of a better accuracy.
gumby 8y ago
Why was this parent comment downvoted? It provided useful resources.
- balibebas 8y ago
  Meta. This is HN. Full of doudgebag liberals

lunchladydoris 8y ago

Dang, Germany! What happened there? That is a huge outlier.

fbelzile 8y ago
They seem to acknowledge it and explain: > High volume of device requests predominantly due to stolen devices investigations. > High number of financial identifier requests predominantly due to iTunes Gift Card and credit card fraud investigations.
- siruncledrew 8y ago
  Does this mean the Polizei actively work on recovering stolen devices and money for public cases? That’s more of an impactful effort than the “We’ll see if it turns up” guarantee of American police, which basically means S.O.L.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
hspak 8y ago
It looks like they've consistently been on the high end judging by their past few years: https://www.apple.com/legal/transparency/de.html https://www.apple.com/legal/transparency/de.html

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

Moodles 8y ago

It is quite hard to put this in context without the general Apple usage and crime rate in these countries.

gumby 8y ago

Australia has quite an enormous number per population.

kenhwang 8y ago
Germany has far worse ratios.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]

aasasd 8y ago

For others trying to figure out how to see countries besides Andorra on a phone: swipe horizontally on the country "card."

CapacitorSet 8y ago

It's mildly surprising to see countries of the "free world" ask Apple for user data much more often than some authoritarian governments or dictatorships - compare UK, US, AU, DE, FR, ES with HU, RU, CN, TR.

orcdork 8y ago
Authoritarian goverments & dictatorships don't need to ask a phone maker for data, they have already existing structures of surveilance (not to mention their targets don't get to say no to using that fingerprint code).
- good_guy 8y ago
  Yep, countries in "free world" don't do that. LOL.
- ssijak 8y ago
  Yeah sure, and US, UK, Germany, Australia and others do not have surveillance at all.
cronix 8y ago
Yes, but it doesn't state anywhere on the origins of the targets of the requests, only the gov't that made the request. It could contain requests for data on foreign citizens traveling to/in the country.
SirHound 8y ago
Yeah but we dont simply disappear as a result of what they receive.
chewz 8y ago
On the contrary. Compare Poland and Germany for example. (Poland - 32 device requests and 14 thousand identifiers vs Germany 13 704 device requests and 26 thousand identifiers). It show that when Poland targets people in bulk while Germany targets specific individuals (each probably requires separate judical order). Poland famously in 2H2014 made request for data of half a million iPhone users (80% requests for data worldwide). FYI Poland is not at war, under terrorist threat and it is relatively peaceful country but the government like to keep their hands in citizens pockets and it's special branches are out of control.

kgwxd 8y ago

"requests"

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

torgian 8y ago

I'm kinda surprised how many NSA requests were sent through in the US... compared to China. Why? WTF?

lern_too_spel 8y ago
Apple already gave China access to all Chinese iCloud data. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/02/5-things-you-need-to-know-about-apple-in-china/ https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/02/5-things-you-...
educationdata 8y ago
Why would Chinese government ask Apple for help when they can directly get user data from ISP and Tencent? Chinese local police can read people chat messages in real time.
- lostmsu 8y ago
  Can they read iMessages?
  - educationdata 8y ago
    Even Apple can't read iMessage. I guess in this case they will simply force you to unlock your iPhone to let them read everything in it.
    - a012 8y ago
      IIRC, they can't read message data but message metadata, sometimes that's enough for authorities.
jonnybgood 8y ago
I don’t see any where stating the organization that made the request. How do you know it’s NSA? I’d imagine it’s more likely the FBI.

DyslexicAtheist 8y ago

Bosnia, Herzegovina, Croatia, Albania, Montenegro, ... seems like most of the Western Balkan hasn't requested anything