can law enforcement utilize apple device logs that are shared with apple?

Mr_Mcluvin wrote:

can law enforcement utilize apple device logs that are shared with apple?

If law enforcement or national security entities are your adversary and if they’re interested in you or in something you’re doing, then you’re probably going to have a bad day.

I’d expect they’d buy your data from the myriad vendors collecting your web activities and your carrier location data (major US carriers recently being fined for “oversharing” location data too) and the data from various installed apps, or they might “black bag” your locations or that of your affiliates, or any number of other classic exploits that are available, if they don’t already have access to that data and more. I’d expect the VPN providers will make a whole lot of info available upon either payment or upon appropriate legal requests, too.

Likely not involving (anonymized) telemetry. Why wade through all that telemetry data, when there are better and more direct and more expedient paths?

For what Apple publishes: Transparency Reports - Government and Law Enforcement Information - Apple

Whether you’re interesting enough to warrant use of espionage tooling?

It's definitely not settled law. Yes, a Supreme Court ruling would remove some of the uncertainty.

Meanwhile, if you're going to organize a protest where you might get arrested and have your phone seized as the "instrument of a crime," use a burner with only the number to your lawyer stored on it. Back when I worked for Verizon, I sold a pre-paid phone to someone who, several days later was arrested and had her phone seized for just that reason. It was at a Republican Convention.

As IdrisSeabright pointed out, those logs are anonymized on Apple servers and a subpoena to Apple would not reveal those logs.

Share analytics, diagnostics, and usage information with Apple - Apple Support

The user may be compelled by the court to access their phone and share those logs. Apple has no way to access the device that is protected by the Passcode so they would not be able to provide any assistance. While there have been many different rulings about forcing a user to open their device, it has been done as recently as 1 month ago.

https://9to5mac.com/2024/04/19/thumbprint-to-unlock-phone-kaw/

IdrisSeabright wrote:

It has been recommended for a while that, if you have reason to believe the police may want access to your phone, you should use a passcode only, no biometrics. People in the U.S. have successfully refused to provide the password because it violates their 5th Amendment rights.

States have been all over the place on this issue and without a federal ruling from the Supreme Court it is going to depend on the state you are in. State cases include:

• Virginia - 2014 ruling that the passcode is protected while biometrics is not
• Florida - 2016 ruled that even the passcode is not protected and even jailed a person for not providing it
• New Jersey - State Supreme Court ruled that a person can be compelled to provide the passcode when the case was argued on 5th Amendment grounds, but say they may have ruled differently if argued on illegal Search and Seizure protections provide by the 4th Amendment.

You are correct that the majority of states have ruled that a person can be compelled to provide fingerprint or face to unlock the device, but not the passcode. People have successfully refused to provide their passcode and others have not been so successful. If we could get one ruling from the Supreme Court to settle the matter, it would make the issue more clear.

(Hopefully) If they get a court order, they have to.

It's my understanding that those logs are anonymized.

Mac Jim ID wrote:

The user may be compelled by the court to access their phone and share those logs. Apple has no way to access the device that is protected by the Passcode so they would not be able to provide any assistance. While there have been many different rulings about forcing a user to open their device, it has been done as recently as 1 month ago.

https://9to5mac.com/2024/04/19/thumbprint-to-unlock-phone-kaw/

It has been recommended for a while that, if you have reason to believe the police may want access to your phone, you should use a passcode only, no biometrics. People in the U.S. have successfully refused to provide the password because it violates their 5th Amendment rights.

Weirdly, I know a fair number of people who have this concern. They are activists, though, not criminals.

Mr_Mcluvin wrote:

can law enforcement utilize apple device logs that are shared with apple?

Note that you can opt out of sending those logs.