iCloud China data migration: Apple warns some users on dodging new data law

Some Chinese users of Apple Inc's products who have created Apple IDs overseas to circumvent a new law that requires their personal data to be stored within China say they have been warned by the tech giant that they risk losing the data.

China introduced a new cyber security law on June 1 that imposes tougher controls over data than in Europe and the United States, including mandating that companies store all data within China and pass security reviews.

Apple announced last year that it will migrate all user data from Chinese iCloud accounts to local servers run by Guizhou-Cloud Big Data Industry Co Ltd (GCBD), which is part of a state-backed infrastructure project overseen by local Communist Party officials.

The move is scheduled to happen on Feb. 28, and Apple this week notified users of the shift via emails linked to Chinese iCloud accounts.

However, despite earlier assurances by Apple that only local accounts will be affected, five Chinese users who had set up Apple iCloud accounts using U.S. emails, payment methods and addresses said they had received notices that they needed to opt into the transfer or risk losing their data. Their U.S. accounts did not contain any of their Chinese information, they said.

"As far as they [Apple] know I'm a U.S. resident with a U.S. address, phone, email and payment details," one user in Beijing surnamed Liu, 26, told Reuters. He declined to share his full name in case his secondary account is identified and closed.

"How could they possibly judge that I'm a Chinese citizen?"

It was not immediately clear how many users in all received these warnings from Apple or how the company identified the users to send the notices.

But thousands of users have taken to social media to criticise the firm and crowd source workaround solutions to the new rules, which don't give users an opt-out option that would allow them to keep their data.

Opening foreign Apple ID accounts is one way that Chinese users are able to evade strict censorship controls by accessing overseas App Stores which host virtual private network (VPN) apps and other features.

Apple last year removed dozens of local and foreign VPN apps from its Chinese app store, as well as popular media apps and communication tools including Microsoft Corp's Skype, cutting off a major resource for Chinese users looking to access uncensored content.

Chinese authorities maintain that the bans on foreign content - which include popular U.S. services by Facebook Inc, Alphabet Inc and Twitter Inc - are designed to maintain social stability and eliminate threats to China's sovereignty.

Apple said last year that it has strong data privacy protections in place for its Chinese data operations, and that no backdoors will be created in any of its systems.

However, some users say they are unconvinced and will disable their accounts. Other Apple loyalists told Reuters that they feared that refusing the new data terms or attempting risky solutions could mean losing their accounts or data.

"I'm pretty sure the is a technical issue, [but] even if you choose a different region now, you will still be unclear where your data will go after the handover," said one user surnamed Wang, who told Reuters he has been using U.S. Apple IDs since before iPhones were available in China.

"My iCloud service is paid in U.S. dollars and the billing address is in Portland, how can this data be in a Chinese server?"

Apple apologises

IANS reports that Apple, which announced its first data centre in China will be operational from February, mistakenly sent a notice to some of the US users saying their iCloud data is being migrated to the servers in the Asian country.

The Cupertino-based Apple has now apologised.

In an email obtained by TechCrunch, the company said: "We are very sorry that you received this email. This email was intended only for customers whose Apple ID country is China. A very small number of our customers whose Apple ID country is not China also received this email by mistake".

In a move to increase transparency and make inroads into China, the first data centre of the Cupertino-based tech giant Apple in China will be put into operation on February 28.

From then on, photos, documents and other personal information uploaded to iCloud accounts by Apple customers in China will be stored at a data base in southwest China's Guizhou Province, Xinhua news agency reported.