Apple Refutes China State TV Concerns on IPhone Security Risk

Apple Refutes China State TV Concerns on IPhone Security Risk

Jeff Green

Bloomberg

July 12 (Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. assured Chinese customers that location tracking on its iPhone can’t be used to identify activity of individuals, a day after China’s state-owned television broadcaster said the software poses a security risk.

The iPhone function can collect data and may result in a leak of state secrets, China Central Television reported yesterday, citing Ma Ding, head of the online security institute at People’s Public Security University of China.

In response, Apple said on its Chinese website that it has never “worked with any government agency from any country to create a backdoor in any of our products or services.”

The tracking function is used to speed up applications designed to show iPhone users their own location or assist in driving directions to avoid traffic. It can be turned off, Apple said in its statement. Personal location information is stored only on the phone, protected by a user password, and isn’t available to third parties, the company said.

“We appreciate CCTV’s effort to help educate customers on a topic we think is very important,” the company said in the statement, according to an English translation provided by Apple. “We want to make sure all of our customers in China are clear about what we do and we don’t do when it comes to privacy and your personal data.”

Hacking Allegations

Apple, Microsoft Corp., Google Inc. and Facebook Inc. are among U.S. companies criticized by state-run media amid an escalating spat over cyberspying and hacking allegations. The tensions follow indictments by U.S. prosecutors of five Chinese military officers for allegedly hacking into the computers of American companies and last year’s revelations by former security contractor Edward Snowden of a National Security Agency spying program.

Last month, a commentary on the microblog of the People’s Daily newspaper said Apple, Microsoft, Google and Facebook cooperated in a secret U.S. program to monitor China.

CCTV, the national broadcaster, said a provincial government was told not to buy computers with Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system. It quoted a professor calling the software a potential threat to China’s information security.

Apple, based in Cupertino, California, posted March quarter sales of $9.3 billion from the greater China area, a region that includes Hong Kong and Taiwan, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Apple shares were little changed at $95.22 yesterday in New York. --With assistance from Feifei Shen in Beijing and Tim Culpan in Taipei.