Apple’s latest Transparency Report, which covers the period between July and December 2020, shows a worldwide decline of private and government requests for data, account preservation, or app removals in the second half of 2021 versus the first half.
The Transparency Report is published twice a year by the Cupertino tech giant in an effort to be transparent about government requests for customer data and how it responds. The report discloses the number of government requests for customer data the company receives globally. In the first half of 2020, the tech giant received 286,275 device requests out of which it covered 171,368 devices, meaning the company was able to comply with 80% of the requests.
In the second half of 2020, Apple received lesser information requests worldwide compared to the first half
The latest version of the report, suggests a global decline in questions for data compared to the last update. For example, in the months between July and December 2020, Apple received a total of 25,784 device requests for 83,307 devices. In comparison, the company received 28,276 device requests for 171,368 devices in the first half of the year.
Requests for account preservation did increase slightly. These questions are usually made for possible law enforcement evaluation. The company received a total of 7,751 requests throughout 2020, 3,751 in the first half, and 4,000 in the following months.
In the United States, Apple received 4,025 government device requests in the six-month period the report accounts for, down from 4,641 requests in the first half of the year. The tech giant provided the government with the required data in 3,790 of those 4,641 requests.
Germany was the top data requester during the six months, sending the tech giant 11,474 total device requests. Following Germany, the United States came in second with 4,025 requests and Brazil came in third with 1,639 requests.
Emergency requests were up during the six months. Apple received 1,162 emergency requests in the second half of 2020, up from 770. The requests are made in cases involving imminent danger of death or physical injury.
For App Store, Apple received 39 legal violations takedown requests covering 206 applications. China made 26 of those questions covering 90 applications followed by India making six quests covering 102 applications. The tech giant complied with all the requests to remove the apps.
Check out the Transparency Report covering the six months from January 1 to June 30, 2020, here.
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