Apple launched a privacy site where its in the European Union will be able to download the information and data that the technology company has about them in association with their ID (identifier). This site should extend its capabilities to users in the United States later as well.
Both Facebook and Google have already implemented similar tools.
In the case of Apple, the portal will provide information that includes the person’s activity in the App Store, iTunes Store, iBooks Store, and Apple Music, as well as Apple’s online store and its retail stores. Their history may also be requested at the AppleCare support center and other data such as iCloud bookmarks, calendar entries, reminders, photos, and other documents.
To access the information, you will need to log in to the new portal with your Apple ID account.
At the moment, the site is only available for accounts based in the European Union, in light of changes under the new General Data Protection Regulations (RGPD) that will come into effect tomorrow in that continent. It will change the way companies and public bodies collect, store and use information from Europeans.
This is a process that began almost two years ago and means that any organization -whatever its geographical location- that works with European data will have to report in an “understandable” way how the data that is requested and eliminate it from their servers when that mission is fulfilled.
Apple indicated that its new privacy portal will be enabled for the rest of the world in the coming months.
Apple is covered by the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulations (GDRP), which will be binding from May 25. This week the technology launched a site to compile, collect and modify the personal data it has of its users, in favor of digital transparency.
The manufacturer of the iPhone joins Facebook, Google, Whatsapp, Twitter and other technologies that have new services of apparent horizontality with respect to data management, in compliance with the RGPD and also in response to the scandal of Cambridge Analytica, which exploded earlier this year.
Apple: All Apple Pay data, text messages and Facetime calls are “fully encrypted”.
Apple defends the protection of privacy through its encryption system. “When you pay at the supermarket with Apple Pay, send an iMessage to a friend, or make a Facetime call, your data is fully encrypted. The same goes for the personal information you store on your device,” the company explains.
To help its customers verify the security of their data, the company launched a new platform that lists all the information stored in an account and allows customers to select the references they want to download. The process can take up to seven days.
What does Apple know about its users?
Apple anticipates that copying data requested by users will include details about app usage and activity information in spreadsheets and other formats, as well as documents, photos and videos in their original format, and calendars, contacts, bookmarks, and mail messages in a variety of formats.
The technology also lists what the download will not include. These so far includes a specific listing of purchases of apps, books, movies, TV shows, or music, as well as a detailed history of transactions made in your digital store.
Apple’s privacy portal allows you to correct data stored in an account or delete the account and delete all associated data.
Messages from the iMessage platform will not appear either, as Apple explains that these chats are encrypted and can only be accessed from the devices. Transactions outside the App Store are also not recorded.
Apple’s new privacy page allows you to correct the data that Apple technology handles, deactivate the account or permanently delete it, which also presents the possibility of deleting all data associated with it.