Apple is preparing for a big change at the end of the month: Henceforth, iCloud data belonging to users based in China will have to be stored there, in the company's new Chinese data center.
That means text message, emails, and other data stored in the cloud will be physically housed on Chinese soil. Importantly, it also means that the cryptographic keys required to unlock an iCloud account will live in China as well.
SEE ALSO:Here's what we think about Apple's HomePodPreviously, as Reuters points out, those keys had been stored in the United States. Whenever Chinese authorities have sought access to a user's account in the past for one reason or another, they'd have to go through the processes set forth in the U.S. legal system.
Moving the keys to a data center in China means that authorities can seek access to iCloud accounts using the local legal system instead. This is a worry to human rights and privacy advocates, who fear what the country's looser privacy restrictions and the broad powers held by local authorities might mean.
"Even very early in a criminal investigation, police have broad powers to collect evidence," Jeremy Daum, an attorney and research fellow based in Beijing, told Reuters. "[They are] authorized by internal police procedures rather than independent court review, and the public has an obligation to cooperate."
China's data privacy laws also offer little protection when the authorities in question are investigating certain criminal offenses, including some that many countries would define as political suppression.
Two Chinese citizens were jailed as dissidents in 2002 for distributing pro-democracy writings and other materials. It was later discovered that the damning evidence had been provided to the Chinese government by Yahoo, prompting harsh criticism. The tech company later apologized and settled a lawsuit brought by the families of Chinese activists.
While plenty has changed in China since the events of 2002 -- that was more than a decade before the country's longtime ban on video game consoles finally lifted, for example -- concerns remain.
Some have criticized Apple's decision, but the company contends it tried to keep this from happening.
"While we advocated against iCloud being subject to these laws, we were ultimately unsuccessful," a statement provided to Reuters reads. Apple claims that moving iCloud data and encryption keys to China is preferable to shutting down iCloud services there completely, a move that the company says would add to the risk of user security and privacy being compromised.
Apple maintains that it alone controls the encryption keys, regardless of the nation in which they're based. Even its Chinese partner -- the state-owned Guizhou, which helped to get the data center established -- doesn't have access.
Of course, that's exactly what a company concerned with its own interests would say in a situation like this. Apple's partnership with Guizhou is a necessity; without it, the U.S. company wouldn't be able to store data in China under the new rules. That, in turn, could cut off Apple's access to the large Chinese market of more than 1 billion potential customers.
Critics, meanwhile, feel that Apple caved too easily. New York Timeswriter and college professor Zeynep Tufekci, one such critic, articulated her feelings on the move in a pair of tweets.
Tweet may have been deleted
Tweet may have been deleted
Whatever you believe, the move is happening and it goes into effect on Feb. 28.
An Apple support article makes clear that, as of Feb. 28, users in China will be required to accept a new terms of service agreement if they wish to continue using iCloud. The company told Reuters that more than 99.9 percent of the current users there have already done so.
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