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Apple in 2023 hosted a "Global Police Summit" to help police agencies around the world better take advantage of Apple products for police work like surveillance, reports Forbes. The meeting was held in October 2023 at Apple Park, and it preceded the International Association of Chiefs of Police Conference. As many as 50 police department employees from seven countries attended the events.

iphone-16-hands-on-front.jpg

At the event, police agencies shared their "successes, innovations, and lessons learned," according to an email about it, while Apple engineers did presentations on products and features that benefit law enforcement such as "CarPlay, Crash Detection, Emergency SOS via Satellite, Vision Pro and more."

LAPD chief information officer John McMahon told Forbes that it was one of the most useful conferences he'd attended. "I've never been part of an engagement that was so collaborative," he said. A New Zealand police department shared an experience creating an app for storing and accessing police data connected to the National Intelligence Database, as one example of what was demonstrated at the conference.

While Apple has refused to unlock iPhones at law enforcement request and has fought public battles to avoid adding backdoors to its products, Apple does respond to some legal requests from governments and law enforcement, and law enforcement agencies are a business like any other that can purchase Apple products for police work.

Electronic Frontier Foundation analyst Matthew Guariglia told Forbes that Apple has kept the product meetings and conferences quiet because the company is aware that they do not align with pro-privacy marketing. "They want to get the reputation that they protect users' data and they will do so at the expense of their relationship with law enforcement, and at the same time recognizing that creating tech for law enforcement is a multi-billion-dollar industry," he said.

Gary Oldham, who oversaw Apple's worldwide strategy for public safety and emergency services until August of this year, spoke with Forbes and said that he had worked to grow Apple's public safety market share in multiple target markets around the world. Oldham specifically worked with police agencies in California to "deepen Apple tech use." Several police departments in California are testing using the Vision Pro for surveillance work. In Western Australia, the police force uses Siri through CarPlay to access police data and send updates about incidents.

Oldham did not provide a reason why he left Apple in August, and Apple did not hold a Global Police Summit in 2024.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: Apple Hosts Secretive Conferences to Teach Law Enforcement How to Better Use iPhone, CarPlay and Vision Pro for Police Work
 
We need Robo Cops with AVP. Human cops look better with Meta Rayban. Let those students from Harward to fine tune their app for police force. It will be easier to identify wanted criminals on the streets.
 
So, essentially, Apple hosted a conference aimed at helping law enforcement become more tech-savvy and learn how to use Apple products more effectively?

Like a high-end version of the Genius Bar support sessions?

Pretty much.


Electronic Frontier Foundation analyst Matthew Guariglia told Forbes that Apple has kept the product meetings and conferences quiet because the company is aware that they do not align with pro-privacy marketing. "They want to get the reputation that they protect users' data and they will do so at the expense of their relationship with law enforcement, and at the same time recognizing that creating tech for law enforcement is a multi-billion-dollar industry," he said.

You can help the police better use tech and still be pro-privacy. I'm guessing the sessions weren't "Getting A Passcode Out Of A User" or "Using FaceID On A Concussed Suspect".
 
Apple in 2023 hosted a "Global Police Summit" to help police agencies around the world better take advantage of Apple products for police work like surveillance...
Is that what Officer Gordon Blackey was doing?

 
features that benefit law enforcement such as "CarPlay, Crash Detection, Emergency SOS via Satellite, Vision Pro and more."

I was wondering what law enforcement would be doing with Vision Pros and augmented reality, and then I realized: I guess we're one step closer to Cyberpunk 2077-esque crime scene inspections? Well, minus Keanu Reeves making sarcastic comments the whole time. 🚬
 
Is that what Officer Gordon Blackey was doing?

Not really. This officer:
1) Accessed this database for personal purposes, a very serious offense punishable by jail.
2) Illegally used a tracking device.
3) Harassed a person.
 
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Many paragraphs with no substance.

Apple already has a website for Law enforcement on how to file requests.
Apple says iPhones are private but they sure keep a lot of metadata. And Israeli companies have no problem unlocking iPhones.

Some understand the article as Apple looking to sell Visions Pro. Since retail are not buying, government sure could sure waste more tax-payers funds.
 
Pretty much.




You can help the police better use tech and still be pro-privacy. I'm guessing the sessions weren't "Getting A Passcode Out Of A User" or "Using FaceID On A Concussed Suspect".

Are you sure?

In other words here’s how you unlock 🔓 these things without a public spat in a court of law ?

I wouldn't typically follow you down this rabbit hole, but they were so secretive. Why?

If they are still marketing privacy of individual data then I’m sure they’ll be happy to detail the specific subjects they collaborated on with law enforcement...

I'm sure it will come out eventually... 75 years or so.
 
Good thing, it is obvious law enforcement agencies must understand principles upon which main communication tool of the current century works. Would be foolish to think iOS and macOS can exist as a sort of “wild west” for everyone. Probably AI features are there for a reason too
 
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