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The BBC and Ars Technica, amongst other sources, have reported regarding the FBI's latest filing in the FBI vs. Apple case regarding government-mandated unlocking of the phone owned by the San Bernadino terrorist.

The US Government's reply to Apple (which was linked to by Ars Technica) makes the claim (page 34, line 6) that:

For example, according to Apple’s own data, China demanded information from Apple regarding over 4,000 iPhones in the first half of 2015, and Apple produced data 74% of the time.

It makes the citation Wilkison Decl. Ex. 8 at 3. for that claim, which was not included as part of the document.

Did Apple's data show that they helped the Chinese government unlock thousands of iPhones?

Oddthinking
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March Ho
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    **CLASSIFIED** ;-) – gerrit Mar 11 '16 at 15:19
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    There is a big difference between providing a tool to break in to an encrypted phone and "[demanding] information from Apple regarding over 4,000 iPhones". What information did China request. How often do US agencies request similar information and what is the compliance rate? Has China ever requested help decrypting an encrypted phone? Did Apply comply? What criteria made Apple refused 26% of China's requests? – PhillS Mar 11 '16 at 15:20
  • @PhillS I'm interested in these pieces of information as well. However, I was unable to find the source, which is why I posted this question. – March Ho Mar 11 '16 at 15:22
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    The title doesn't match the quoted claim – user5341 Mar 11 '16 at 18:13
  • There is a difference between: (1) extracting unencrypted data from a locked iPhone, and (2) making a back door to help obtain encrypted data from an iPhone. – GEdgar Mar 12 '16 at 01:38
  • @user5341 You are welcome to edit it to a better title. As far as I am concerned, any action Apple can do to get information out of an iPhone that cannot be accessed normally classifies as "unlocking" of some sort. – March Ho Mar 12 '16 at 01:56
  • @GEdgar You are completely correct. However, the question isn't interested in these distinctions, since it is asking what Apple did regarding the Chinese government, and is only related to the current FBI v. Apple case by origin from the FBI legal team. – March Ho Mar 12 '16 at 01:58
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    Producing data regarding a phone, unlocking a locked phone and writing an operating system modification to unlock a locked phone are three different things. There is no claim here that Apple unlocked 4,000 Chinese iPhones. They may have simply provided information about what apps were installed, or what usernames were associated with the phones, from their own servers. – Oddthinking Mar 12 '16 at 02:12
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    @Oddthinking - unless I miss the tech details (not being an iHead), they could also have provided data from iCloud which backs up data from the phones – user5341 Mar 12 '16 at 22:36
  • We could save this question by making it "DId Apple provide data for 74% of 4,000 Chinese requests for information in 1H2015?" – Oddthinking Mar 12 '16 at 23:56
  • http://images.apple.com/uk/privacy/docs/government-information-requests-20150914.pdf shows that in the first half of 2015, there were requests from China about 4,000 devices; the same number from Australia, and about 30,000 from South Korea. According to the same document, about 94% of all requests are about lost or stolen devices. Considering that Apple can't unlock a phone (and fighting the US government to keep it that way), it's highly unlikely they unlocked any phone in China. – gnasher729 Mar 14 '16 at 22:21
  • BTW About 250,000 requests from Poland - 60 times more than China. With a comment "Poland: predominantly requests from Polish Customs and Revenue Authorities." – gnasher729 Mar 14 '16 at 22:26

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