Apple’s iPhone branded ‘a threat to national security’ by Chinese state media

Chinese state media today branded Apple’s iPhone a threat to national security because of the smartphone’s ability to track and time-stamp user locations. A report by broadcaster CCTV criticised its “Frequent Locations” function which lets users be tracked and information about them revealed. A researcher interviewed said that if the data were accessed, it could reveal an entire country’s economic situation and “even state secrets,” the researcher added. Apple was not available for immediate comment.

This is extremely sensitive data.

Chinese researcher interviewed by broadcaster CCTV

Apple has frequently come under fire from Chinese state media, which accused the company of providing user data to U.S. intelligence agencies and have called for ‘severe punishment’. It has also been criticised for poor customer service. The California-based company is not the only U.S. firm to suffer from Chinese media ire. Google has been disrupted in China for over a month, while the central government procurement office has banned new government computers from using Microsoft Corp’s Windows 8 operating system.

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