SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Apple will open a data center in mainland China with ties to the country's government, raising concerns about the security of iCloud accounts that store personal information transferred from iPhones, iPads and Mac computers there.
The data center announced Wednesday will be run by a company owned by the Chinese government. Apple is teaming up with the company to comply with a new Chinese law requiring data-storage providers to keep the information of mainland China customers on computers located within the country. It doesn't apply to users elsewhere.
Apple says it'll still hold the keys protecting the images and documents in iCloud accounts stored in China, but experts believe the data center will make it easier for the government to retrieve the information through legal demands or other means.