Apple Moves to Store iCloud Keys in China, Raising Human Rights Fears

February 25th, 2018

Awake Goy

Apple Moves to Store iCloud Keys in China, Raising Human Rights Fears

February 24th, 2018

When Apple Inc begins hosting Chinese usersâ€™ iCloud accounts in a new Chinese data center at the end of this month to comply with new laws there, Chinese authorities will have far easier access to text messages, email and other data stored in the cloud.

Thatâ€™s because of a change to how the company handles the cryptographic keys needed to unlock an iCloud account. Until now, such keys have always been stored in the United States, meaning that any government or law enforcement authority seeking access to a Chinese iCloud account needed to go through the U.S. legal system.

Now, according to Apple, for the first time the company will store the keys for Chinese iCloud accounts in China itself. That means Chinese authorities will no longer have to use the U.S. courts to seek information on iCloud users and can instead use their own legal system to ask Apple to hand over iCloud data for Chinese users, legal experts said.

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