Apple's move to store user iCloud data locally in China was inevitable; it's merely following the law. But if the powerful tech leaders of Silicon Valley can't stand up for customers rights in China, who can?

Apple yesterday shifted its Chinese iCloud storage to a local company, for the first time hosting the encryption keys for that data in China rather than the US. The move isn't a surprise, as it not only follows new laws that force foreign companies to hold data locally, but comes a month after Apple warned users of the move.

The server setup raises concerns as the Chinese government needs no longer go through the US legal system to access iCloud data, but can instead rely on local courts. Apple has stressed it will only comply with valid legal requests to data and refuse all bulk requests, and so far has turned down all 176 requests for data from the Chinese government between 2013 and last year, when the new laws landed. Such requests will continue to be tracked in its transparency reports.

"The simple fact is that once the encryption keys are stored on Chinese servers, they will be easier for Chinese authorities to access — with or without legal requests," says Sharon Hom, executive director of Human Rights in China, a US-based NGO. "Since Apple has declared its willingness to 'comply with Chinese law,' its reassurance that it, not its Chinese partner, would control the encryption keys is not exactly reassuring. In addition, Chinese authorities could bypass Apple to address their requests directly to Apple’s Chinese partner, a state-owned enterprise that, of course, would have to cooperate with Chinese authorities."

What should Apple do? Holding out risks its Chinese business, but that could be better in the long term, argues Human Rights in China's Hom. "Even if tech companies are willing to risk long-term sustainability, or damage to stated core business values, their own employees, consumers, and the public back home may ultimately not condone their role in helping to legitimate such an authoritarian regime," she says. 

Plus, Silicon Valley has the chance to show China the way as it steps into global technology, with Hom noting China has said it has a 30-year plan to become the global leader in innovation, AI and big data — "and to build a 'cyberspace with Chinese characteristics'."

Because of that goal, Apple et al have an opportunity to set a better standard — or risk become "apologists" for human rights abuses online. "In the face of this global China tech vision, tech companies have a responsibility to hold the line on international law and human rights standards on fundamental rights and freedoms," Hom says. Apple's led on privacy everywhere else — don't stop now.

Source: wried