What did the transparency reports reveal for technology companies?

For weeks, we watched the big row between Apple and the US security services. But is Apple really not cooperating with the intelligence and authorities in different countries? What about Google, Twitter, Facebook and Microsoft? The latter, we saw, is suing the US government because of the large number of government requests. To what extent do companies cooperate with countries? What are the countries with the most applications for companies?

What are transparency reports?

Due to some laws and customs in Western countries, companies are obligated to disclose any security requests they receive from any country. These requests vary, such as a request to delete an account that publishes abusive data, account information, or requests for intellectual property rights. These reports are published on the companies' websites mostly on a semi-annual basis, which means that the most recent report is the period July to December 2015 in most companies. Companies can approve or reject government requests.

What is the difference between the Apple crisis and traditional cooperation?

The difference between the previous requests and the phone hacking that Apple opposed from the security authorities is that the requests mentioned in the transparency reports are reasoned and specific in the sense that the request is sent to the company saying that this person did such-and-such and we have approval from the judiciary to ask for his account data. And the required data, this is such and such, specifically. If a terrorist called others on the phone, the government could request a list of his contacts, but it is illogical to ask for his personal photos recorded in the cloud, for example. So Apple refused to help the FBI because it requires a universal access method for the iPhone that enables it to view anything they want and not specific information.

What are the most reported countries in the world?

At the end of the article, there are the sources, and with them you can know the reports in detail, as we will suffice to mention only the most 5 countries in each report.

Apple report

In its report, Apple indicated that it had received 30.7 thousand applications, and the most prominent countries were as follows:

1. Germany, with a total of 12 applications, 52% approved.
2. America, with 4 thousand requests for 16 thousand devices, 80% were approved.
3. Australia 3 applications were approved, 69%.
4. England 1969 application 55% approved.
5. Singapore 1936 application 50% approved.

Google report

The latest Google report was in the first half of 2015 and is divided into several sections, such as requests to delete content, as well as access to customer data, and requests include Google and its divisions such as YouTube. The company indicated that it had 3467 requests to delete content. As for individuals' data requests, there were 35.3 thousand requests to access data and 69 thousand requests regarding accounts or persons. The 5 countries were the most:

1. America 12 applications 78% approved.
2. Germany 3903 applications 58% approved
3. France 3489 applications 56% approved
4. England 3146 applications 75% approved
5. India 3087 applications 44% approved

Microsoft report

Microsoft's report came in more detail, as it stated that 39 applications were received, and 13 were rejected.09% Only requests because they are illegal and 18.5% Of requests because the requested content was not found. The countries came as follows:

1. Turkey 9169 applications were approved 75.44%.
2. France 6280 applications 57.98% approved.
3. America 5297 applications 63.85% approved
4. England 5254 applications 73.66% approved
5. Germany 4026 applications 66.42% approved

Facebook report

Facebook received the number of requests 46710, which is the largest among all companies, and most countries were:

1. America 19235 applications were approved, 81.42%.
2. India 5561 applications 50.87% approved,
3. England 4190 applications 82.15% approved
4. Germany 3140 applications 42.26% approved
5. France 2711 applications 54.22% approved

Twitter report

It was one of the smallest reports and the lowest in the number of applications, as only 5560 applications were received and 64% of them were approved. Countries also appeared for the first time, and most countries were as follows:

1. America 2673 applications and 79% were approved.
2. France has 707 applications and 61% approved.
3. Japan 445 applications and 54% approved
4. England 427 applications and 76% approved
5. Turkey has 403 applications and 0% were approved.

Arab and Islamic countries:

When we publish any reports like this, we find a question: What about us? Where are our countries? Do you also send requests to technology companies? Therefore, we decided to allocate a section for Arab and Islamic countries that appeared in the reports of technical companies.

Apple Report

• Turkey has 63 applications, 52 approved% who are they
• Malaysia 5 applications 100 have been approved% who are they.
• Indonesia 3 requests were sent 33 approved% who are they.
• Saudi Arabia sent 1 was rejected “Approval 0%".

Google report

1. Turkey 425 applications were all rejected, i.e. 0% approval rate
2. Malaysia 5 applications, 20% of them were approved.
3. Pakistan 4 applications 25% of them were approved
4. Indonesia 2 applications were rejected, i.e. 0% approval rate.
5. Brunei 1 request, Kazakhstan 1 request, Kosovo 1 request, Bosnia 2 requests, and they were all rejected.

Microsoft report

1. Turkey has 9169 applications, of which 75.44% were approved.
2. Pakistan 1 application was approved ie 100%.

Facebook report

Of the companies that received requests for the most Arab and Islamic countries, and the list was as follows:

1. Pakistan has 471 applications, of which 66.45% were approved.
2. Turkey has 443 applications, of which 84.2% were approved
3. Malaysia 13 applications were approved, 76.92%.
4. Lebanon has 7 applications, of which 71.43% were approved.
5. Albania 5 applications, 80% of them were approved.
6. Egypt has 4 applications, 25% of whom have been approved.
7. Nigeria 1 application was approved ie 100%.
8. Countries (Afghanistan 1 request, Azerbaijan 4 request, Indonesia 2 request, Iraq 1 request, Kuwait 1 request, Qatar 1 request, Sudan 1 request, Senegal 1 request) and all of these countries were rejected, i.e. 0% approval rate.

Twitter report

1. Turkey 403 applications 0% approved
2. Saudi Arabia 113 applications were approved 85%
3. UAE 60 applications, 43% were approved.
4. Kuwait 19 applications 63% approved
5. Bangladesh 6 applications 60% approved
6. Malaysia 2 applications 0% approved
7. Lebanon 1 application 100% approved
8. Nigeria 1 application has been 100% approved
9. Pakistan 1 application 0% approved

Comment iPhone Islam

Please pay attention to the following points and clarifications:

1

The iPhone Islam site is not a political site. Rather, we are a technical site and we publish the reports because they are issued by technical sites. What is mentioned are official reports and the sources are below.

2

The reports show the declared and official cooperation, but this does not confirm or deny whether there is an unofficial secret dealings between any of the companies and countries.

3

Reports for the period July to December 2015, except for the Google report, which was not issued for this period.

4

All Arab and Islamic countries are mentioned, not the top 5, to avoid the accusation that we are biased and hide some countries for personal purposes.

5

The requests do not mean that the target is espionage, for some of them may be for a crime, for example, and the website, mail, or services of any company has been used. And perhaps in some countries it will be to find a phone, as Apple explained in the case of South Korea, where the government officially submits requests for stolen phones to companies.

Sources:

Google | Apple | Facebook | Microsoft |Twitter