Apple Reveals Transparency Report: Governments Around The World Made Over 3,000 User Data Requests

The world's most valuable technology company, Apple, has now published its first technology report which reveals user data requests from governments around the world on about 3,000 individual accounts in the first half of 2013. The report also goes on to detail the nature and type of the requests.

The report, which was published on the company's website, went on to complain about the government's requests. It also aimed at assuring Apple customers that the company is doing its best to protect their interests and data.

"We have no interest in amassing personal information about our customers," the company said. "We protect personal conversations by providing end-to-end encryption over iMessage and FaceTime. We do not store location data, Maps searches, or Siri requests in any identifiable form."

Of the 31 countries listed in the report, the US government's request was the largest, as it asked for the information of more than 2,000 accounts. Britain came in second with 141 requests, Spain with 104 requests and Germany with 93 requests. The list also includes the governments of Canada, China and Norway, who made six requests each.

The Cupertino based tech giant complained that US restrictions did not allow it to disclose exact numbers of national security orders and the number of accounts affected by such orders.

"We strongly oppose this gag order, and Apple has made the case for relief from these restrictions in meetings and discussions with the White House, the US attorney general, congressional leaders and the courts."

Apart from Apple, other tech giants like Google and Microsoft have been receiving thousands of user data requests from the US government over the last year. Search giant, Google, has been affected badly by this trend since its business relies heavily on collecting user information which will later be used in its flourishing online advertising business.

Source: Apple transparency report