Trump DOJ demanded metadata on 73 phone numbers and 36 email addresses, Apple says

Source: The Hill | June 11, 2021 | Celine Castronuovo

The Justice Department (DOJ) under former President Trump in seeking information on lawmakers demanded metadata on 73 phone numbers and 36 email addresses from Apple, the tech giant said in a Friday statement shared with multiple news outlets.

Apple said it had received the subpoena for data as issued by a federal grand jury in February 2018, along with a “nondisclosure order signed by a federal magistrate judge,” according to reports from CNN and TechCrunch.

The company added that the request “provided no information on the nature of the investigation and it would have been virtually impossible for Apple to understand the intent of the desired information without digging through users’ accounts.” 

“Consistent with the request, Apple limited the information it provided to account subscriber information and did not provide any content such as emails or pictures,” the company added in its statement. 

CNN reported that the nondisclosure order subsequently had three extensions, each lasting a year, but notified affected customers of the subpoena last month when the order was not extended for a fourth time. 

A Microsoft spokesperson told The Hill Friday that it also received a subpoena in 2017 related to a congressional staffer’s personal email account, but was prevented from notifying the staffer for more than two years due to a gag order.

“As we’ve said before, we believe customers have a constitutional right to know when the government requests their email or documents, and we have a right to tell them,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

“As soon as the gag order expired, we notified the customer who told us they were a congressional staffer,” the spokesperson added. “We then provided a briefing to the representative’s staff following that notice. We will continue to aggressively seek reform that imposes reasonable limits on government secrecy in cases like this.”

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  • Consistent #49254

    EVERYDAY #49255

    I’m wondering how far this goes. That is, how many other “enemies of the state” were spied on in this manner? And how many other government agencies were used to spy on, annoy, harass or threaten people Trump didn’t like?

    No wonder Trump got on so well with the likes of Putin and Kim. Malevolent dictators regularly use the power of their governmental agencies against their own people. Trump met with these strongmen, not to work out peace or trade treaties, but rather, to learn how these dictators keep their citizens in line. Trump fancies himself as one of these dictators; it’s the kind of president his cult wants him to be. If Trump ever gets close to the White House again, this is what he will be. We have to make sure that doesn’t happen.

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