Edward Snowden Refuses to Use Apple’s iphone Over Spying Concerns

“Edward never uses an iPhone, he’s got a simple phone,” Snowden’s lawyer said in a recent interview, as noted by Sputnik. “The iPhone has special software that can activate itself without the owner, having to press a button and gather information about him, that’s why on security grounds he refused to have this phone.”

It is unclear whether the “special software” referred to consists of standard diagnostic tools, or if Snowden believes U.S. intelligence agencies have compromised Apple’s mobile operating system.

Apple was one of the first companies accused of participation in the NSA’s PRISM data mining initiative, following Snowden’s release of hundreds of classified NSA documents.

The PRISM project is said to have involved the extraction of “audio, video, photographs, e-mails, documents and connection logs that enable analysts to track a person’s movements and contacts over time.”

Some of the world’s largest internet brands are claimed to be part of the information-sharing program since its introduction in 2007. Microsoft - which is currently running an advertising campaign with the slogan “Your privacy is our priority” - was the first, with collection beginning in December 2007.

Many tech companies have, predictably, offered denials
An Apple spokesperson told CNBC’s Eamon Javers, “We have never heard of PRISM,” adding, “We do not provide any government agency with direct access to our servers.”

Javers reported a similar (by which I mean the exact same) denial from Facebook: “We do not provide any government organization with direct access to Facebook servers.”

Facebook continues: “When Facebook is asked for data or information about specific individuals, we carefully scrutinize any such request for compliance with all applicable laws, and provide information only to the extent required by law.”

Google’s denial was given to both The Guardian and The Washington Post: “Google cares deeply about the security of our users’ data. We disclose user data to government in accordance with the law, and we review all such requests carefully. From time to time, people allege that we have created a government ‘back door’ into our systems, but Google does not have a back door for the government to access private user data.”

Later leaks revealed that the NSA had created spyware targeted at the iPhone, which would have given intelligence services access to SMS messages, on-board data, live microphone feeds, and positioning information. It remains unclear how successful that program was, and Apple again denied involvement.

Section of leaked DROUPOUTJEEP document

Source: Der Spiegel

Snowden: Apple and ‘others’ are secretly spying on you
“The iPhone has special software that can activate itself without the owner having to press a button and gather information about him, that’s why on security grounds he refused to have this phone based on security grounds.” according to Edward Snowden’s lawyer.

Apple has been active in making the iPhone harder for security services to spy on, and the company said that iOS 8 made it impossible for law enforcement to extract users’ personal data, even if they have a warrant.

The company has also been active in campaigning for privacy reform after the Snowden revelations, joining with Facebook and Google to call for changes to the law.

But recently published files from the NSA showed that British agency GCHQ used the phones UDIDs - the unique identifier that each iPhone has - to track users.

While there doesn’t seem to be any mention of such spying software in any of the revelations so far, a range of documents are thought to be still unpublished.