![]() “I would ask that the DOJ repeal or modify any policies that impede this transparency.” “Apple and Google should be permitted to be transparent about the legal demands they receive, particularly from foreign governments, just as the companies regularly notify users about other types of government demands for data,” Wyden wrote. Wyden’s investigation began after his office received a tip about the practice last spring, he wrote. Wyden added that in some circumstances, the companies “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.”ĭuring the investigation, Wyden’s team learned from Apple and Google that the US government had prohibited the companies from disclosing information about government attempts to collect mobile notification data. “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.” “Apple and Google are in a unique position to facilitate government surveillance of how users are using particular apps,” Wyden wrote in a letter Wednesday to the Justice Department outlining his findings. The inquiry showed that governments have access to a wide range of revealing insights through mobile notifications, which are also known as “push” notifications. The revelation follows a year-long investigation by Wyden’s office and highlights the creative and expansive tactics governments use to monitor their people the power of large tech platforms and the range of useful information they hold on their users and the US government’s own role in limiting transparency surrounding the practice. It is unclear how many times Apple and Google may have complied with these requests, when they first began receiving them, or from whom. The demands for mobile notification data, if fulfilled, could potentially jeopardize the safety of political dissidents, human rights workers, journalists and minorities worldwide, in the same way that legal demands for other types of mobile device information can. Governments around the world have particularly battled with tech companies over encryption, which provides critical protections to users and businesses while in some cases preventing law enforcement from pursuing investigations into messages sent over the internet.īut mobile notifications, which sometimes display messages on lock screens even when the communications themselves may be encrypted, can present a workaround by giving governments access to more information about a device and its user’s activities. ![]() Wyden’s report reflects the latest example of long-running tensions between tech companies and governments over law enforcement demands, which have stretched on for more than a decade. ![]() Through legal demands sent to the tech giants, governments have allegedly tried to force Apple and Google to turn over sensitive information that could include the contents of a notification - such as previews of a text message displayed on a lock screen, or an update about app activity, Oregon Democratic Sen. Foreign governments have reportedly attempted to spy on iPhone and Android users through the mobile app notifications they receive on their smartphones - and the US government has forced Apple and Google to keep quiet about it, according to a top US senator.
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