Apple Bends Over For China Again, To Store iCloud Keys Of Chinese Consumers In Local Servers

Although it has drawn a line in the sand with regards to government meddling in consumer privacy in the U.S., it seems Apple’s desire to do business in China is forcing it to make concessions in these matters. The company recently decided to move the iCloud keys of its Chinese consumers in servers located in the country. This makes them significantly more prone to the wide-reaching surveillance arm of the Chinese government.

As Engadget notes, Apple has had to do some rather unsavory things for the Chinese government in order to keep accessing its significant pool of consumers. Next to the U.S., the Asian giant has some of the most enthusiastic tech buyers in the world, making it a major source of revenue.

This latest move is a huge concession on the part of Apple since it puts a black eye on its reputation for being committed to giving its clients the best privacy and security they can provide. By handing over the iCloud data to a company called Guizhou Cloud Big Data Industry, which is jointly run by the state, the Cupertino firm is effectively doing what Huawei and other Chinese tech giants have already done.

Days before the move was put into effect, Apple had apparently already sent notifications to Chinese users, TechCrunch reports. The likely hope is that any user who has sensitive information stored in their iCloud accounts would have already deleted them and automated connection with the online storage service would be severed.

If not, the authorities in the country will have no trouble accessing these accounts if they wanted to. When the data was still stored on U.S. servers, doing so was significantly more cumbersome because China had to deal with the legal system, which slowed the process down. Now, privacy advocates are concerned that this will be another tool for the Chinese leaders to keep its citizens on a tight leash.