Encrypted iPhones: Apple locks mobile data.

• Author: Krayewski, Ed
• Position: Citings - Brief article

APPLE'S LATEST mobile operating system, iOS 8, has a new security feature. Users' phones will encrypt stored data by default, making that data inaccessible to Apple--even when the government is involved. As the company explained in the privacy note for iOS 8, "It's not technically feasible for us to respond to government warrants for the extraction of this data."

Apple is using this as a selling point. "Unlike our competitors, Apple cannot bypass your passcode and therefore cannot access this data," the company says on its website.

Google followed by announcing that the next iteration of its own mobile operating system, Android, will also encrypt data by default. The current version of Android allows users to choose to have their data encrypted, but this is not the default setting.

Apple can still access data saved onto its cloud storage service and, presumably, will continue to be compelled to honor government demands for that data. In its privacy note, Apple explains that "if we are legally compelled to...