Apple won't hide your email address from law enforcement
What's the story
Apple has shared the real identities of at least two customers who used its "Hide My Email" feature, according to court documents obtained by TechCrunch. The move came after federal agents requested records from the tech giant as part of an investigation into a threatening email sent to Alexis Wilkins, girlfriend of FBI Director Kash Patel.
Information disclosure
What did records show?
In response to the FBI's request, Apple provided records showing that the "Hide My Email" address was an anonymized email account linked to a specific Apple account. The company also shared the account holder's full name and email address, along with records for 134 other anonymized email accounts created using this feature.
Second incident
Information about another customer was given to ICE
In a separate case, Apple provided information about another customer to federal agents from Homeland Security Investigations, a division within ICE. The search warrant was issued during an investigation into an alleged identity fraud scheme. An HSI agent noted that the alleged fraudster had created many anonymized email addresses through Hide My Email across multiple Apple accounts.
Privacy concerns
iCloud service is marketed as end-to-end encrypted
Apple's iCloud service is largely marketed as end-to-end encrypted, meaning only customers can access their own data. However, not all customer information is inaccessible to law enforcement. Information stored by Apple about its customers, including names, addresses, billing information, and unencrypted emails are accessible to law enforcement agencies. This highlights the privacy limitations of emails as most are still not encrypted today.