Apple to make life easier for law enforcement

Danny Bradbury for Sophos: Apple’s new tool will make it easier for law enforcement to request data – “The company is seeking to streamline the way that it currently services information to government agencies with the new tool, which will be ready by the end of the year. It outlined the plans in a letter, from Apple’s general counsel Kate Adams to US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, according to a report from Reuters.”

There are, of course, many known instances of friction between Apple and US government agencies – notably the FBI – over getting access to devices owned by terrorists et al. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in that context. Reuters says that Apple “plans to create an online tool for police to formally request data about its users and to assemble a team to train police about what data can and cannot be obtained from the iPhone maker.”

David Harley