Apple rubberstamped Trump’s request to secretly scoop up data on two members of Congress

The Steve Jobs Theater at Apple’s Apple Park headquarters. | Dieter Bohn / The Verge The New York Times is reporting on a new wrinkle in the story of how the Trump administration’s Department of Justice used Big Tech to spy on two members of the House Intelligence Committee in an attempt to track down leaks to the press — namely, that Apple didn’t fight it, perhaps never had a chance to fight it, because the company rubberstamped the request. It didn’t even know it was handing over the records of Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA), then the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, Apple told the publication. In a statement, Apple said it didn’t know what the investigation was about, and couldn’t have known unless it dug through user accounts itself. So it was handled like the vast majority of the 250 requests the... Continue reading…