Apple moves to store iCloud keys in China, raising human rights fears
1–10 of 109 posts
Re: Apple moves to store iCloud keys in China, raising human rights fears
#2So don't store data in iCloud? It's perfectly possible to perform your own encryption and hold the private key yourself.
Re: Apple moves to store iCloud keys in China, raising human rights fears
#3>When Apple Inc begins hosting Chinese users’ iCloud accounts in a new Chinese data center
1. get vpn
2. create US icloud account
3. ???
4. profit?
Re: Apple moves to store iCloud keys in China, raising human rights fears
#4So don't store data in iCloud? It's perfectly possible to perform your own encryption and hold the private key yourself.
But they won't...
Re: Apple moves to store iCloud keys in China, raising human rights fears
#5Because if they would continue to store them in US then all would be well. They are perfectly safe in the US...
Re: Apple moves to store iCloud keys in China, raising human rights fears
#6Related, earlier thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16449326
Re: Apple moves to store iCloud keys in China, raising human rights fears
#7Because if they would continue to store them in US then all would be well. They are perfectly safe in the US...
If you are a Chinese activist, then yes, of course you are better off with the keys anywhere outside China.
Re: Apple moves to store iCloud keys in China, raising human rights fears
#8To Apple's credit there are still significant parts of their platform that remain end-to-end encrypted even in China -- meaning that Apple or any other cloud operator can't read because they don't have the keys, notably:[1]
- iMessage
- Keychain
- Siri data
And more like health, home & payments.
While it's unfortunate that Apple couldn't compel China to run their government requests for data through the U.S. court system, in my view it is pretty amazing that they are "getting away" with keeping the most sensitive data end-to-end encrypted.
I mean China shut down WhatsApp last year and iMessage is of a similar level of security.[2] Then again nobody really uses iMessage in China. They do use keychain.
[1] https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202303
[2] https://www.apple.com/business/docs/iOS_Security_Guide.pdf
Re: Apple moves to store iCloud keys in China, raising human rights fears
#9So don't store data in iCloud? It's perfectly possible to perform your own encryption and hold the private key yourself.
Sure, many users in China can use other services, but it seems to be a no win situation for most people. Unless you’re technically sophisticated, you’re unlikely to pursue alternatives which provide a greater degree of security and require a bit of technical know how.
At best you can say that Chinese users will likely be no worse off using iCloud than they would using any other China-based service. Unfortunately that is no consolation for anyone who might have sensitive data.
Re: Apple moves to store iCloud keys in China, raising human rights fears
#10Because if they would continue to store them in US then all would be well. They are perfectly safe in the US...
Apple did fight off the FBI over this issue not long ago. I'm not saying the war is over though... that was just one battle.