Apple to store iCloud keys in China; human rights issues raised

When Apple Inc starts to host Chinese users' iCloud accounts in a new Chinese data centre, by the end of this month to comply with new state laws, Chinese authorities will easily be able to access text messages, email and other data stored in the cloud, Reuters reported.

The development stems from how the company handles the cryptographic keys needed to unlock an iCloud account.

Such keys, until now, have always been stored in the US, meaning that government or law enforcement authorities seeking access to a Chinese iCloud account needed to go through the US legal system.

Now, according to Apple, for the first time, the company will store the keys for Chinese iCloud accounts in China itself, which means Chinese authorities can use their own legal system to ask Apple to hand over iCloud data for Chinese users rather than working through the US legal system according to experts.

Human rights activists have voiced fear the authorities could use the power to track down dissidents, citing cases from over a decade ago in which Yahoo Inc handed over user data that led to arrests and prison sentences for two democracy advocates.

Reuters reported Jing Zhao, a human rights activist and Apple shareholder, as saying he could envisage worse human rights issues arising from Apple handing over iCloud data than occurred in the Yahoo case.

"While we advocated against iCloud being subject to these laws, we were ultimately unsuccessful," Apple said in a statement.