People wait outside an Apple store all night prior to the mainland release of iPhone 4S on January 12, 2012 in Beijing, China. ChinaFotoPress—Getty Images
Apple insisted Saturday that it does not pass on data collected from Chinese iPhone users to U.S. intelligence services
Apple on Saturday denied claims made on Chinese state media that its iPhone presents a security risk to customers by compromising location data.
“Apple does not track users’ locations – Apple has never done so and has no plans to ever do so,” Apple said on Saturday, the Financial Times reports.
A Friday report on CCTV, the widely influential Chinese state-owned broadcaster, warned that the iPhone could track users using its positioning technology, and “view the user’s home address, unit information and whereabouts.” The report also claimed that information could be passed to U.S. intelligence services.
In an explanation published on its homepage in China, Apple said it has “never worked with any government agency from any country to create a backdoor in any of our products or services,” the Financial Times reports.
Apple also said that users location services can only be accessed by the device’s owner when they enter their passcode
