Apple Says It Hardened Rules On Legal Requests After Trump Administration's Subpoena

• On Friday, Apple Inc AAPL confirmed a New York Times report that the Department of Justice (DOJ) sent a request in February 2018 and demanded metadata on 73 phone numbers and 36 email addresses, Reuters reports. 


• Apple said it has tightened some of its rules for responding to legal requests after the DOJ during Donald Trump's presidency subpoenaed it for information on Democratic lawmakers.


• The company said it has instituted a limit of 25 identifiers such as email addresses or phone numbers per legal request.


• According to the report, Apple released only basic "account subscriber information" such as names, addresses, email addresses, and telephone numbers and connection logs and IP addresses in response to the DOJ request.


• The company said that it limited the information it provided to metadata and account subscriber information and did not provide any content such as emails.


• The inspector from the justice department, General Michael Horowitz, has said that "he will investigate the department's efforts under Trump to seize the communications data of lawmakers and members of the news media."


• On Thursday, the New York Times reported the DOJ had subpoenaed Apple for data from the accounts of at least two Democrats on the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee to investigate classified information leaks. 


• Apple has said that it received the subpoena from the Justice Department on Feb. 6, 2018, but it contained no information about who the investigation was targeting or why. 


• In a statement, Apple said that it believes similar requests were sent to other technology companies and internet service providers.


 

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