Reacting to recent news reports about government data-gathering from major Internet companies, Apple on Monday joined several other tech companies that have begun reporting how many requests for customer information it receives from U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
Apple said it received between 4,000 and 5,000 requests for customer data for the six months ended in May. The requests involved between 9,000 and 10,000 separate accounts or devices.
The most common requests involved law enforcement investigations into things like robberies or missing children, according to Apple, which did not say how many of the requests came from U.S. intelligence agencies.
Apple also said it rejects some requests that don't meet legal standards. The company added that it doesn't provide certain types of data, such as records of conversations over FaceTime and iMessage, because those conversations are encrypted and Apple cannot decrypt them.
The maker of iPhones, iPads and Mac computers also said it doesn't provide information on customers' location, map searches or Siri requests because Apple doesn't retain that information.
"Apple has always placed a priority on protecting our customers' personal data, and we don't collect or maintain a mountain of personal details about our customers in the first place," the company said in a statement on its website.
"Regardless of the circumstances, our legal team conducts an evaluation of each request and, only if appropriate, we retrieve and deliver the narrowest possible set of information to the authorities," Apple said. "In fact, from time to time when we see inconsistencies or inaccuracies in a request, we will refuse to fulfill it."
Apple's disclosure follows the release of similar reports late Friday by Facebook and Microsoft, which said they had been negotiating with federal authorities for the right to tell the public about information requested for national security investigations. Until now, federal laws required the companies to keep certain types of requests secret.
