Apple Will Now Require A Court Order Before Allowing Law Enforcement Agencies To Obtain Push Notification Data

In a move towards ensuring user data privacy, Apple Inc. AAPL has introduced a policy that necessitates a court order to reveal specifics of customers’ push notifications.

What Happened: Apple implemented this policy change by updating its guidance for law enforcement, reported Reuters. With the revised guidelines, search warrants and court orders are mandatory for revealing details like the Apple ID linked to an Apple Push Notification Service token.

The policy alteration comes after revelations that both Apple and Alphabet Inc.’s GOOG GOOGL Google had been surrendering notification data to governments.

These notifications can include sensitive information, encompassing metadata outlining which app received a notification and when, as well as the smartphone and associated Apple or Google account intended for the notification delivery.

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Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) highlighted this concern in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, asserting that his office was examining whether foreign governments had coerced Apple and Google into disclosing personal data from smartphone push notifications.

While confirming this practice, Apple explained that the federal government had previously “prohibited” it from sharing these requests. In response, Apple is enhancing its transparency reporting to include these types of requests.

Google already had a comparable policy in effect. Wyden lauded Apple for “doing the right thing by matching Google and requiring a court order to hand over push notification-related data.”

Why It Matters: The policy shift by Apple is a response to concerns over governments exploiting smartphone notification data for user surveillance.

The tech giant updated its Legal Process Guidelines to include data from push notifications following law enforcement agencies' requests. The guidelines now feature a section titled “AA Apple Push Notification Service APNs” which elaborates on Apple’s legal obligation to provide Apple ID information associated with its notification service upon receiving a legal order.

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