Apple has responded to allegations from the Chinese Central Television that its iPhone is a 'national security concern,' clarifying that it does not track users' location.
If you missed the whole debacle, here's a brief summary: on Friday, July 11, state-run Chinese Central Television (CCTV) claimed during a broadcast that Apple's frequent locations feature in iOS 7 collected data on where individual iPhone users were located, and threatens national security because it could transmit 'state secrets.'
Apple, for its part, says it does not and would not track users. The company explained that it does not have access to the data, which is locally stored, and is committed to protecting users' privacy. Moreover, Apple highlights that users can turn off the frequent locations function at any given time.
"Apple is deeply committed to protecting the privacy of all our customers. Privacy is built into our products and services from the earliest stages of design. We work tirelessly to deliver the most secure hardware and software in the world. Unlike many companies, our business does not depend on collecting large amounts of personal data about our customers. We are strongly committed to giving our customers clear and transparent notice, choice and control over their information, and we believe our products do this in a simple and elegant way," Apple explains in a statement.
"We appreciate CCTV's effort to help educate customers on a topic we think is very important. We want to make sure all of our customers in China are clear about what we do and we don't do when it comes to privacy and your personal data."
The company further adds that its iPhones are able to determine their location, but it's all at the device level. Apple doesn't track users' locations and has no plans of doing so.
To further clear things up, Apple points out that using just GPS satellite data to calculate a phone's location can take several minutes, which is often too long for users on the go. By using pre-stored WLAN hotspot and cell tower location data, combined with information regarding which hotspots and cell towers the device receives, the iPhone can reduce that time to just a few seconds.
"In order to accomplish this goal, Apple maintains a secure crowd-sourced database containing known locations of cell towers and WLAN hotspots that Apple collects from millions of Apple devices. It's important to point out that during this collection process, an Apple device does not transmit any data that is uniquely associated with the device or the customer."
Relations between China and the U.S. have been quite rocky over cyber security, and CCTVs recent claims only added more fuel to the fire. At the same time, China is a very important market for Apple, and those claims could have a negative impact on iPhone sales in the country.
Technology companies in the U.S., including Apple, have also gone under fire in China after former NSA analyst Edward Snowden claimed that some of those firms were involved in leaking data to the NSA. Apple said it has never worked with any government agency, be it from the U.S. or another country, to provide them with backdoor access to its products or services. The company further said it never allowed access to its servers and never will.
