CCTV Takes Shot at Apple Regarding Cybersecurity
- By Matt Holden
- Jul 14, 2014
CCTV has implicated that Apple is working closely with government spies in Washington to secretly collect data on the location of iPhone users throughout China. Because of the fact that many telecommunication companies as well as smartphone manufacturers are state-owned in China, CCTV is lead to believe the same goes for Western countries.
Given the NSA scandal involving Edward Snowden, it wouldn’t be a stretch to consider the possibilities of this happening, but there is no actual proof of geo-monitoring happening other than this suggestion from CCTV.
The report from CCTV said that the iPhone’s built-in software that allows users to find their location could also be used by third parties to locate users at any time. This could lead to the exposing of state secrets, which is a wide-ranging term meaning anything from important information to things like industry data that is widely available to the public already.
Apple responded to this report by saying they had never worked with any government agency from any country to create a backdoor into their products, and that users can turn off the locator function. Also, Apple noted that location data isn’t available to third parties and is only stored on the phone.
These accusations from CCTV aren’t necessarily grounded in reality; instead, this seems to be a shot at Western technology companies in general.
About the Author
Matt Holden is an Associate Content Editor for 1105 Media, Inc. He received his MFA and BA in journalism from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. He currently writes and edits for Occupational Health & Safety magazine, and Security Today.