“Chinese state media on Friday branded Apple Inc’s iPhone a threat to national security because of the smartphone’s ability to track and time-stamp user locations,” Paul Carsten reports for Reuters.
“A report by broadcaster CCTV criticised the iPhone’s ‘Frequent Locations’ function for allowing users to be tracked and information about them revealed,” Carsten reports. “‘This is extremely sensitive data,”‘ said a researcher interviewed by the broadcaster. If the data were accessed, it could reveal an entire country’s economic situation and ‘even state secrets,’ the researcher said.”
Carsten reports, “Other U.S. hardware firms such as Cisco Systems Inc and IBM Corp have experienced a backlash in China from what analysts and companies have termed the ‘Snowden Effect’, after U.S. spying revelations released last year by former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.”
Read more in the full article here.