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Apple's China iCloud Data Migration Sweeps Up International User Accounts (techcrunch.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the brushed-under-the-rug dept.

Yesterday, it was reported that Apple's iCloud services in mainland China will be operated by a Chinese company from next month. What wasn't reported was the fact that Apple has included iCloud accounts that were opened in the U.S., are paid for using U.S. dollars and/or are connected to U.S.-based App Store accounts in the data that will be handled by local partner Guizhou-Cloud Big Data (GCBD) from February 28. TechCrunch reports: Apple has given China-based users the option to delete their data, but there is no opt out that allows them to have it stored elsewhere. That has concerned some users who are uneasy that the data migration is a sign of closer ties with the Chinese government, particularly since GCBD is owned by the Guizhou provincial government. When asked for comment, Apple pointed TechCrunch to its terms and conditions site which explains that it is migrating iCloud accounts based on their location: "The operation of iCloud services associated with Apple IDs that have China in their country or region setting will be subject to this transition. You will be notified of this transition via email and notifications on your devices. You don't need to take any further action and can keep using iCloud in China. After February 28, 2018, you will need to agree to the terms and conditions of iCloud operated by GCBD to keep using iCloud in China."

However, TechCrunch found instances of iCloud accounts registered overseas that were part of the migration. One user did find an apparent opt-out. That requires the user switching their iCloud account back to China, then signing out of all devices. They then switch their phone and iCloud settings to the U.S. and then, upon signing back into iCloud, their account will (seemingly) not be part of the migration. Opting out might be a wise-move, as onlookers voice concern that a government-owned company is directly involved in storing user data.

45 comments

  1. Big brands like big gov by AHuxley · · Score: 1

    From PRISM https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... to China?
    How about data staying in the USA and providing freedom of speech and freedom after speech for users around the world?
    Let users globally enjoy US freedoms rather than what is allowed under a Communist party legal system.

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    1. Re:Big brands like big gov by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      US freedom. LOL. The NSA is balls deep in American datastores. And thanks to national security letters, you'll never hear a peep about it. Freedom alright.

    2. Re:Big brands like big gov by Hal_Porter · · Score: 2

      America : you're free to speak. And the NSA is free to listen.

      China : you're not free to speak and the Ministry of State Security is even freer than the NSA to listen to make sure you don't.

      --
      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
    3. Re: Big brands like big gov by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      #freedumbs!

  2. Using Apple in China? THEN YOU DESERVE IT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's a totalitarian regime and you're licking their boots for nickels.

  3. Much ado about nothing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    iOS encrypts data locally using your passcode before storing information in iCloud.

    1. Re: Much ado about nothing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because people who are smarter than you understand how to encrypt the same data with multiple specific keys able to decrypt it.

    2. Re: Much ado about nothing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      hmmmmm

      so they are smarter than me, ok

      plz explain how I haz iCloud key in so new random computer to see iCloud storage?

      oh so nice key stores in cloud

      oh

    3. Re: Much ado about nothing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      LOL very good point. I told you since day 1, Apple security is snake oil. Would keep on swearing sweet words to you just to make profits.

    4. Re: Much ado about nothing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      still confused about why I got modded down, even with punctuation and captilization and shit

      huh, also that idiot never explained why he was so much smarter than me which is disappointing

      heâ(TM)s obviously an idiot shitfucker obdurate moron

    5. Re: Much ado about nothing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      At least he can write text properly.

  4. can this be solved with a modest application of bl by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Methinks a clever sort could quite possibly apply some block chain in this scenario whilst using iCloud and the nefarious schemes of big government would be thwarted in the bid!

  5. Seriously? by Mike+Van+Pelt · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "We won't let the FBI see the iPhones of people who commit mass murder in the US, but the Secret Police of Communist China gets whatever they want."

    I'm sure glad I don't use Apple, for multiple other reasons.

    1. Re:Seriously? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What makes you think they don't let the FBI see it? The FBI is making a whole lot of noise about how if you want to hide your data, use an iPhone. Why would they do that if they couldn't, in fact, get at the data in an iPhone? They'd just be telling all the crooks "use iPhones to hide your data."

      More likely they're pretending to be mad at Apple in order to trick people into using Apple products, while in reality they're targeting open source products that are really secure and that they have no way of breaking into.

    2. Re:Seriously? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Simpler explanation: The FBI as an organization is pretty pissed at Apple for advertising their devices as a means to defeat law enforcement. No conspiracy needed, just hypocrisy from Apple.

    3. Re:Seriously? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Right Mikey. It's good you use Android because Google has never ever ever let the FBI or any government agency poke around through its data.

      Oh you say, I don't use Google. Microsoft - tough luck. Your bank - yep. Email provider - yes indeed. Cable company - of course. Gay porn website - you know it. Linux build - talk to the NSA.

      In other words, unless you wrote the fucking software yourself and designed the goddamn chipset, you have been pwned by the feds for years.

      Jackass.

    4. Re:Seriously? by tlhIngan · · Score: 3, Interesting

      "We won't let the FBI see the iPhones of people who commit mass murder in the US, but the Secret Police of Communist China gets whatever they want."

      I'm sure glad I don't use Apple, for multiple other reasons.

      Nope. This only affects iCloud. And you can opt out of using iCloud too.

      The FBI has full access to iCloud data, just like China will too (for Chinese accounts). This is due to Chinese law saying Chinese users of cloud services must have the data stored within China.

      Chinese government only has access to those servers now, and you can opt-out like you always could of iCloud services - the iPhone is not tied to it in any way other than user convenience.

      Data stored on phones only (and there's a lot that Apple isn't storing to the cloud, including passwords) remain stored on phones and the Chinese government will have to crack them same way the FBI does.

    5. Re:Seriously? by NettiWelho · · Score: 1

      The FBI as an organization is pretty pissed at Apple for advertising their devices as a means to defeat law enforcement.

      Please explain how you can defeat law enforcement with device encryption if law enforcement has acted within boundaries of written law to begin with?

    6. Re:Seriously? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nope. This only affects iCloud. And you can opt out of using iCloud too.

      Technically true, but, like Google Mail and Youtube youtube accounts, they make attaching an iCould account a lot easier than avoiding it. Especially as you need to have an Apple account to receive updates, and an iCloud account is created and attached to that apple account.

      Every time there's an update that requires a re-log, you get another "opportunity" attach iCloud to your various services like contacts, and they use wording that misleadingly implies that those services won't work without being part of iCloud or you won't be able to finish signing in without setting it up.

    7. Re: Seriously? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Simple, you hide your evidence inside the iThing, the FBI gets a warrant to search your phone, and Apple gloats that they're helping the crook. That requires no malfeasance on the part of the FBI.

    8. Re:Seriously? by AHuxley · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Re "What makes you think they don't let the FBI see it?"
      The FBI want people to keep using their live mic, camera, GPS, file system copy system with confidence over every generation of big brand product.

      What could convince many interesting people to still trust a big US brand not be working with US law enforcement?
      If interesting people see all the phones been used as part of evidence they will just stop using the phones. The free domestic voice print collection goes dark.
      The real issue is how many criminals/spies in the USA have the security clearance connections to see the real time voice print results of domestic collection?
      In the FBI? Telco workers? Police? City/state Internal affairs? Mil contractors? Cult/faith members working for a gov/contractor in secure legal and telco areas with a top security clearance? Lawyers? The mil support teams? Other agency staff?
      The people who work on the LETC upgrades to law enforcement front company aircraft?
      How many people need to be in on nation wide domestic voice and data collection if the junk encryption keeps collection wide open over every generation of big brand product?
      Is domestic collection all out sourced to some part of the EU?
      A trusted set of contractors in a "France" does the US domestic sorting so no other level of law enforcement/mil/gov in the USA can ever find their own files in any FBI database? Nobody interesting in the US would then have to know?
      The secret is not that all US big brand encryption is junk. The place outside the USA where the real time results are sorted and kept away from US telco workers, cults, criminals, city/state police would be the secret to keep.
      No US spy under federal suspicion would be able to find results in any US database by searching domestically. Domestic parallel construction hidden out side the USA for safe keeping.

      Any criminal/faith group/corrupt police looking deep into FBI files would only find pictures of people with convictions, all US drivers license images, DNA and finger prints. All the usual data any advanced national police force has on convicted people. The domestically collected voice prints do not get stored in the USA? So the trust stays as the criminals and faith groups are sure nothing is collected from their secure big brand phone in real time. Yet the LETC flights circle a city for hours. What is getting collecting domestically if the big brands products are so secure and the results are still protected with secure encryption?

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    9. Re: Seriously? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The FBI have been given access to this too when they have a warrant. The bad news for both the FBI, and the Chinese government is that itâ(TM)s end to end encrypted with a key derived from your phones password.

    10. Re:Seriously? by c · · Score: 2

      the Chinese government will have to crack them same way the FBI does.

      I wasn't aware that the FBI was allowed to torture the keys out of suspects? Yet.

      --
      Log in or piss off.
    11. Re: Seriously? by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      AC projects like DROPOUTJEEP https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... will not care about the user and their user "encryption".

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    12. Re:Seriously? by Kjella · · Score: 1

      Chinese government only has access to those servers now, and you can opt-out like you always could of iCloud services - the iPhone is not tied to it in any way other than user convenience.

      For now..... until the Chinese government starts looking into the people who have an iPhone and don't use iCloud and tie that or active use into the loyalty score somehow. As far as I know you can only turn it off, you can't fake using it. That's really the end game here, make most people give up their privacy without anything seemingly bad happening so the remainder stand out in a crowd. I mean 99% of what goes on at Facebook is meaningless drivel, the question is who's not on Facebook and what's not being posted to Facebook.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    13. Re: Seriously? by NettiWelho · · Score: 1

      Simple, you hide your evidence inside the iThing, the FBI gets a warrant to search your phone, and Apple gloats that they're helping the crook. That requires no malfeasance on the part of the FBI.

      If the FBI is coming physically after you you're already in shit creek already evidence wise ie. what you have on your phone don't matter therefore lack of it in trial won't defeat law enforcement.

    14. Re:Seriously? by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 0

      There's no Trump in China. That counts for a lot.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    15. Re: Seriously? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are you some simpleton? The FBI had a valid court order giving them access to a phones content which was hidden by Apples security. Apple decided not to comply with the legal warrant and justified their non-compliance by stating their security was to good and it would take an unknown number of man hours for them to access the phone in question. In this case the phone's last user was a dead terrorist who could hardly object to his civil rights being violated in any way. And to make matters even more clear cut the actual owners of the phone in question was owned by the dead guys employer and they gave the FBI permission to access their property. By this time Apple's marketing campaign was in full swing touting this case as proof they take security seriously. And that is when Apple got a deserved kick in the nits when a 3rd party cracked their vaunted security in 3 days.

      Apple bent over for China quite some time ago and hand over anything the Chinese government asks for. Apple does this to ensure access to the Chinese market. Apple has been committing US tax fraud for years by banking their profits over seas. They are allowed to do this because technically they are required to bring the deferred tax amounts to the US and pay the taxes at that time. The thing is the time frame required for repatriating their profits is vague. With Apple doing the bulk of their manufacturing in China it's a wonder the US government has not banned Apple products for government use. You would think with Apple giving the Chinese all of their US account information their would be some loud objections and calls for boycotts but evidently a lot of people can't survive the day without a fix from their iThing.

    16. Re: Seriously? by Monster_user · · Score: 2

      You're overcomplicating it. We already know Facebook does real time audio survelliance.

      We also know that people typically keep their phones on them.

      What we don't know is how many of the people we interact with daily have "always on" apps on their digitial devices.

    17. Re: Seriously? by AHuxley · · Score: 2

      We have one last bit of information. U.S. secretly tracked billions of calls for decades (April 7, 2015)
      https://www.usatoday.com/story...
      Would the FBI still risk such bulk sorting of voice print data within the USA given criminal, cult, faith and legal interest in all things collect it all?

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    18. Re:Seriously? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I know this may come as a shock to you, but there are different rules in different countries. The laws of the United States do not apply in China. People who reside in China are subject to Chinese law. You are a moron if you think Apple can tell the Chinese government to go fuck itself.

    19. Re: Seriously? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You all rook saem!

      Cocksucker.

    20. Re:Seriously? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is provably wrong. Almost every iOS update in some way re-enables iMessage, iCloud or Siri settings in some way.
      Sometimes, it was not possible to use iOS without Siri, or search was coupled to Siri in iOS 11 (until they separated it again in 11.2 or something with a setting for showing the app only without Siri if you disable it), sometimes iMessage was re-enabled, other times it was iCloud Drive, iCloud backup, Photos, Notes, passwords.

      It was so frequent that you are compelled to seriously doubt the re-enabling moves were all accidents.

    21. Re:Seriously? by phayes · · Score: 2

      I'm sure glad you're not making any decisions for me because you're conflating two different things:
      - Access to iCloud Data (the subject of TFA).
          Apple has always divulged this data when presented with a warrant, whether in the U.S. or anywhere else that they operate:
          https://www.apple.com/lae/priv...
      - Access to information on devices:
          Again, Apple co-operates with authorities when they can but cannot do so once a window of opportunity closes and the device is locked. This was the case for the Las Vegas shooter: http://thehill.com/policy/tech... and more generally: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...–Apple_encryption_dispute

      One assumes that your other reasons for being "glad" you don't use Apple are just as ignorant as these.

      --
      Democracy is a sheep and two wolves deciding what to have for lunch. Freedom is a well armed sheep contesting the issue
    22. Re: Seriously? by Monster_user · · Score: 1

      Uhm, yes.

      The FBI is an intelligence agency. It is their job to collect intel.

      It is also a domestic focused agency. Which means the intel they are tasked with collecting is for US citizens, and matters which happen on US soil. This is why we want trusted and vetted individuals handling this information, and not outsourcing it to other intelligence agencies abroad.

    23. Re: Seriously? by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      What if virtue signalling politicians tell the FBI to hire more local people and that not passing full FBI vetting was not a reason not to get a job with the federal government?
      That having no past to investigate (new citizen), some criminal past in the USA was not a good reason not to work for the US government?
      That questions of been able to prove been loyal to the USA would not stop a person from been given a job in the US government?
      Only once found to be criminal at their new federal gov job could they be questioned. Not investigated beyond that one person.
      New citizens with no background investigations, some criminals, people of faith who are not loyal to the USA could be walking around once very secure gov office buildings.
      Working around, near and with the FBI secure areas for many years.
      People who might not be a criminal but who have a number of criminals in their family, as friends, who are criminals get to work in a federal gov job?
      People of faith who put their faith and another country first and would be able to spy on the US if so requested by people of their faith, that other nation?
      That vetting might be strong for the contractors working on the computers sorting the domestic voice prints but all the "new" staff who are not loyal to the USA in the same gov building?
      A small part of a secure NATO base in the EU with 100% vetted US contractors in a secure site is starting to look good better long term for the FBI.
      No US FOIA, no US courts, no US lawyers to find domestic voice print database projects, funding for such hardware as such work never existed in the USA.
      No US human rights groups, lawyers looking into US FBI funding?
      What the US mil did for the FBI in the EU on part of a US base? Thats a real mil secret kept by fully vetted contractors.
      No risking random individuals working for the US federal gov wondering around spying on the FBI all day, everyday for criminals, other nations, their faith, their cult.
      The trusted and vetted individuals only helps good security until virtue signalling politicians demand anyone get to work for the US gov.
      Once the US gov cant do vetting everything walks out everyday with the new gov workers.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  6. Big surprise by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    More lies from apple. You deal with this shithole company at your own risk.

  7. Meanwhile, the US amb to Haiti resigned by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Meanwhile, the US ambassadors to Haiti and Panama resigned over Trump's "shithole" comment.

    Oh, wait? They didn't?

    NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL FAKE NEWS!!!

    1. Re:Meanwhile, the US amb to Haiti resigned by myid · · Score: 1

      US Ambassador to Panama John Feeley stated on December 27, 2017 that he wanted to resign. MSNBC put out a tweet that incorrectly implied that Feeley had resigned because of Trump's s*hole comment. They later removed the incorrect tweet, and put out a correct one.

  8. Live by the cloud, die by the cloud. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you give all your data to someone else, then you lose the right to bitch when that someone else does stuff with it that you don't want them to. You gave them control over it.

    If you want to control your data, store it locally.

    That is all.

  9. Hypocritical Americans by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It is so funny when Americans are worried about alleged Chinese spying and don't realize that the Chinese are protecting themselves from proven American spying.

  10. Apple LOVES Totalitarian States by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They just cant get enough of those captive slave-citizen's shekels!

    I'd love to shoot Tim Cook.

  11. Cloud by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Grt article