Feed: Slashdot
Feed Link: https://slashdot.org/
---

Title: Apple Gave Governments Data On Thousands of Push Notifications

Link: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/06/04/21352...

An anonymous reader quotes a report from 404 Media: Apple provided
governments around the world with data related to thousands of push
notifications sent to its devices, which can identify a target's specific
device or in some cases include unencrypted content like the actual text
displayed in the notification, according to data published by Apple. In one
case, that Apple did not ultimately provide data for, Israel demanded data
related to nearly 700 push notifications as part of a single request. The
data for the first time puts a concrete figure on how many requests
governments around the world are making, and sometimes receiving, for push
notification data from Apple. The practice first came to light in 2023 when
Senator Ron Wyden sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice revealing
the practice, which also applied to Google. As the letter said, "the data
these two companies receive includes metadata, detailing which app received a
notification and when, as well as the phone and associated Apple or Google
account to which that notification was intended to be delivered. In certain
instances, they also might also receive unencrypted content, which could
range from backend directives for the app to the actual text displayed to a
user in an app notification." The published data relates to blocks of six
month periods, starting in July 2022 to June 2024. Andre Meister from German
media outlet Netzpolitik posted a link to the transparency data to Mastodon
on Tuesday. Along with the data Apple published the following description:
"Push Token requests are based on an Apple Push Notification service token
identifier. When users allow a currently installed application to receive
notifications, a push token is generated and registered to that developer and
device. Push Token requests generally seek identifying details of the Apple
Account associated with the device's push token, such as name, physical
address and email address."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

---
VRSS v2.1.180528