It appears that several unidentified governments are monitoring smartphone users by tracking the push notifications that go through Apple's and Google's servers. This alleged warning is coming straight from the U.S. senator, so it definitely is something that one should be worried about, especially if it happens to be true.
Apple and Google users being spied on by governments is a scary situation if it ends up being true
In a letter written to the Department of Justice, Senator Ron Wyden talked about how foreign officials have been allegedly asking for data from Apple and Google so they can track smartphones. The traffic that flows from apps that send push notifications puts companies "in a unique position to facilitate government surveillance of how users are using particular apps," Wyden wrote in the letter. He also asked the Department of Justice to "repeal or modify any policies" that could hinder public discussions of push notification spying.
Apple reached out to Reuters with a statement and talked about how Wyden's letter has provided them with the chance to share more details with the public about how the alleged governments are monitoring push notifications.
"In this case, the federal government prohibited us from sharing any information," the company said in a statement. "Now that this method has become public we are updating our transparency reporting to detail these kinds of requests."
It is also worth noting that Wyden's letter mentioned a "tip" as the source of the information, so we cannot comment on just how accurate this tip is. The said source confirmed that both foreign and U.S. government agencies are allegedly looking for data from both Apple and Google for metadata-related push notifications.
Although the severity of these alleged claims is pretty high, we will have to wait and see just how things turn out. Spying on users is nothing new, at least not in the tech world. We reported about how AT&T was involved in doing something similar, but the extent of this alleged spying is something that we are still not sure about, and we will have to wait and see how this story pans out.
News Source: Reuters
About the author: I have been tinkering with Android devices ever since the early days of the HTC Desire. Over time, I have grown a fondness for the ecosystem and now I cannot live without it. Although some might believe that I have sold my soul to Android, but I believe it is not the case. You can find me writing tutorials and posting guides on a number of different smartphones. When I am not writing here, I am wasting myself away in books, journals, or on Steam.
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