R
Rich Edmonds
Apple has been involved with other tech companies in fighting for customers' privacy rights in the courts and congress in the US. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which publishes a Who Has Your Back report each year, has awarded Apple (among a handful of other companies) with top marks when it comes to protecting user data against government officials.
The report grades technology companies on how they handle customer data access requests, put forward by government. Apple met all six factors included in the report, which each listing is graded by. The company scored full marks across the board on the following:
- Requires a warrant for content
- Tells users about government data requests
- Publishes transparency reports
- Publishes law enforcement guidelines
- Fights for users' privacy rights in court
- Fights for users' privacy rights in congress
Apple has previously announced the company requires a court order before data is handed over to officials, attempting to reassure customers that all data is safe and they will be notified should government officials request data. Other companies have also been vocal about protecting user data. Microsoft, CREDO Mobile, Dropbox, Facebook, Google, Sonic, Twitter and Yahoo all joined Apple in receiving the full six stars.
Apple was also praised for improvements made through the years (the company only had a single star in the 2013 report). Contrast to the success of a select few, MySpace, AT&T and Amazon.com all scored a measly two stars, while Snapchat ended up with only a single star – not a positive end result for the private image sharing service.
Be sure to read through the full report over on EFF.
Source: EFF, via: WinBeta
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