Apple Accused Of Tampering With User Privacy And Caving In To Russia

• Apple accused of caving in to political pressures
• Rewriting of Crimea in Apple Maps believed to be influenced by the Russian President
• Location services issue on higher-end iPhones believed by many as a form of violating privacy

Apple has been making headlines this year, and for the most part, it is not essentially in a good way. Apple recently responded to criticism on the issue of revising its digital map to show that Crimea, known to the world like Ukraine, is now part of Russia. But that is not all, earlier this week, a security researcher found out that the Cupertino company tracks the iPhone’s location even if the user already turned off the device.

Redrawing Apple Maps

Recently, the Cupertino juggernaut was criticized when it decided to redraw the Apple Maps. The new digital map shows that Crimea is a part of Russia. Multiple industry onlookers believe that Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose team raided and claimed Crimea a few years ago, ‘played’ the Cupertino tech titan and that Apple had caved in to political pressure. The changes were made in response to a Russian law requiring that Crimea should be shown as a part of Russia, Apple explained.

Following criticisms that the company has caved in to political pressures, the Cupertino company said it is committed to looking deeper into the Crimea issue, Fortune reports.

Location Data Collection

Meanwhile, security researcher Brian Krebs discovered that the Apple iOS still periodically collects location data of iPhone users even after the user has already turned off location tracking. Apple initially said that there is no security implication about this and that it is ‘expected behavior.’ However, in a recent statement shared with TechCrunch, Apple said that it tracks location because of regulatory requirements that restrict the use of certain technologies in unknown or unidentified government-chosen places.

The company needs to know where the device is to determine whether to toggle those technologies or not, the Cupertino tech juggernaut said. Additionally, the company said that it would introduce a new feature that allows users more control over tracking. The Cupertino tech giant noted that it would add a toggle in upcoming iOS updates that would enable users to switch off all location tracking.

Privacy advocates, however, are not sure if it is sufficient to safeguard user privacy. In other Apple news, the company is rumored to release five models of the low-cost Apple iPhone next year.