Law enforcement officials reportedly need to supply their own removable media

May 9, 2014 13:09 GMT  ·  By

A document containing new Apple guidelines has emerged shedding more light on the type of information the company can (and is willing to) provide to law enforcement based on legal demands like search warrants and subpoenas.

According to ThreatPost, new documents show that Apple can extract all kinds of information, albeit with a few exceptions, from passcode-locked devices upon request from law enforcement agencies.

An excerpt from the papers is provided, with the company expressly stating that “Upon receipt of a valid search warrant, Apple can extract certain categories of active data from passcode locked iOS devices.”

“Specifically, the user generated active files on an iOS device that are contained in Apple’s native apps and for which the data is not encrypted using the passcode (‘user generated active files’), can be extracted and provided to law enforcement on external media,” the document adds.

The Cupertino giant has the appropriate tools to make data extraction on devices running any iOS firmware from version 4.0 upwards, but can only extract certain types of files that aren’t encrypted by the passcode lock.

“Apple can perform this data extraction process on iOS devices running iOS 4 or more recent versions of iOS. Please note the only categories of user generated active files that can be provided to law enforcement, pursuant to a valid search warrant, are: SMS, photos, videos, contacts, audio recording, and call history. Apple cannot provide: email, calendar entries, or any third-party App data,” the documentation states.

Find My iPhone data is not among the things Apple can share with law enforcement officials, as the company says it can’t supply “historical location data for a given device,” nor can it switch on the feature if the user has it set to off. It also doesn’t have GPS data, it says.

“Location information for a device located through the Find My iPhone feature is customer facing and Apple does not have records of maps or email alerts provided through the service. Find My iPhone connection logs may be available and can be obtained with a subpoena or greater legal process. Find My iPhone transactional activity for requests to remotely lock or erase a device may be available if utilized by the customer,” the guidelines state.

The same document says the Mac maker will cooperate with law enforcement agencies and extract this data but only at its headquarters in Cupertino and – hear this – “law enforcement officials need to provide their own removable media in order to store the extracted data,” according to ThreatPost.

To Apple’s credit, the company has said it will notify customers when the law demands to hand over their personal data.