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Sen. Al Franken questions Tim Cook on iPhone 5s fingerprint sensor privacy concerns

Image (1) Senator-Al-Franken.jpg for post 63066

U.S. Senator Al Franken, who has questioned Apple and other technology companies several times in the past, just published a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook questioning the privacy implications of the TouchID fingerprint sensor feature included in Apple’s new iPhone 5s. In the letter (below), Franken says that “important questions remain about how this technology works, Apple’s future plans for this technology, and the legal protections that Apple will afford it,” and requests that Apple explain more in-depth how it’s storing fingerprint data:

It’s clear to me that Apple has worked hard to secure this technology and implement it responsibly. The iPhone 5S reportedly stores fingerprint data locally “on the chip” and in an encrypted format. It also blocks third-party apps from accessing Touch ID. Yet important questions remain about how this technology works, Apple’s future plans for this technology, and the legal protections that Apple will afford it. I should add that regardless of how carefully Apple implements fingerprint technology, this decision will surely pave the way for its peers and smaller competitors to adopt biometric technology, with varying protections for privacy.

Franken is asking that Apple answer a number of questions related to how the fingerprint data is collected and stored, but also wants to know Apple’s future plans for the technology. For example, if it has plans to allow third-party developers access to the fingerprint sensor and how it considers fingerprint data related to government requests in legal situations:

Under American privacy law, law enforcement agencies cannot compel companies to disclose the “contents” of communications without a warrant, and companies cannot share that information with third parties without customer consent. However, the “record[s] or other information pertaining to a subscriber… or customer” can be freely disclosed to any third party without customer consent, and can be disclosed to law enforcement upon issuance of a non-probable cause court order. Moreover, a “subscriber number or identity” can be disclosed to the government with a simple subpoena… Does Apple consider fingerprint data to be the “contents” of communications, customer or subscriber records, or a “subscriber number or identity” as defined in the Stored Communications Act?

While Apple is yet to issue an official response to Franken, it has published a support document on its website outlining security features of TouchID and explaining some of the safeguards in place:

Touch ID does not store any images of your fingerprint. It stores only a mathematical representation of your fingerprint. It isn’t possible for your actual fingerprint image to be reverse-engineered from this mathematical representation. iPhone 5s also includes a new advanced security architecture called the Secure Enclave within the A7 chip, which was developed to protect passcode and fingerprint data. Fingerprint data is encrypted and protected with a key available only to the Secure Enclave. Fingerprint data is used only by the Secure Enclave to verify that your fingerprint matches the enrolled fingerprint data. The Secure Enclave is walled off from the rest of A7 and as well as the rest of iOS. Therefore, your fingerprint data is never accessed by iOS or other apps, never stored on Apple servers, and never backed up to iCloud or anywhere else. Only Touch ID uses it and it can’t be used to match against other fingerprint databases.

As we’ve noted before, Apple also explains that a passcode is required after restarting the device or after a 48 hour period has elapsed without unlocking. In addition, the device will require a passcode after “five unsuccessful fingerprint match attempts.”

The full letter to Tim Cook is below:

Dear Mr. Cook:

I am writing regarding Apple’s recent inclusion of a fingerprint reader on the new iPhone 5S. Apple has long been a leading innovator of mobile technology; I myself own an iPhone. At the same time, while Apple’s new fingerprint reader, Touch ID, may improve certain aspects of mobile security, it also raises substantial privacy questions for Apple and for anyone who may use your products. In writing you on this subject, I am seeking to establish a public record of how Apple has addressed these issues internally and in its rollout of this technology to millions of my constituents and other Americans.

Too many people don’t protect their smartphones with a password or PIN. I anticipate that Apple’s fingerprint reader will in fact make iPhone 5S owners more likely to secure their smartphones. But there are reasons to think that an individual’s fingerprint is not “one of the best passwords in the world,” as an Apple promotional video suggests.

Passwords are secret and dynamic; fingerprints are public and permanent. If you don’t tell anyone your password, no one will know what it is. If someone hacks your password, you can change it—as many times as you want. You can’t change your fingerprints. You have only ten of them. And you leave them on everything you touch; they are definitely not a secret. What’s more, a password doesn’t uniquely identify its owner—a fingerprint does. Let me put it this way: if hackers get a hold of your thumbprint, they could use it to identify and impersonate you for the rest of your life.

It’s clear to me that Apple has worked hard to secure this technology and implement it responsibly. The iPhone 5S reportedly stores fingerprint data locally “on the chip” and in an encrypted format. It also blocks third-party apps from accessing Touch ID. Yet important questions remain about how this technology works, Apple’s future plans for this technology, and the legal protections that Apple will afford it. I should add that regardless of how carefully Apple implements fingerprint technology, this decision will surely pave the way for its peers and smaller competitors to adopt biometric technology, with varying protections for privacy.

I respectfully request that Apple provide answers to the following questions:

(1) Is it possible to convert locally-stored fingerprint data into a digital or visual format that can be used by third parties?

(2) Is it possible to extract and obtain fingerprint data from an iPhone? If so, can this be done remotely, or with physical access to the device?

(3) In 2011, security researchers discovered that iPhones were saving an unencrypted file containing detailed historical location information on the computers used to back up the device. Will fingerprint data be backed up to a user’s computer?

(4) Does the iPhone 5S transmit any diagnostic information about the Touch ID system to Apple or any other party? If so, what information is transmitted?

(5) How exactly do iTunes, iBooks and the App Store interact with Touch ID? What information is collected by those apps from the Touch ID system, and what information is collected by Apple associated with those interactions, including identifiers or hashes related to the fingerprint data?

(6) Does Apple have any plans to allow any third party applications access to the Touch ID system or its fingerprint data?

(7) Can Apple assure its users that it will never share their fingerprint data, along with tools or other information necessary to extract or manipulate the iPhone fingerprint data, with any commercial third party?

(8) Can Apple assure its users that it will never share their fingerprint files, along with tools or other information necessary to extract or manipulate the iPhone fingerprint data, with any government, absent appropriate legal authority and process?

(9) Under American privacy law, law enforcement agencies cannot compel companies to disclose the “contents” of communications without a warrant, and companies cannot share that information with third parties without customer consent. However, the “record[s] or other information pertaining to a subscriber… or customer” can be freely disclosed to any third party without customer consent, and can be disclosed to law enforcement upon issuance of a non-probable cause court order. Moreover, a “subscriber number or identity” can be disclosed to the government with a simple subpoena. See generally 18 U.S.C. § 2702-2703

Does Apple consider fingerprint data to be the “contents” of communications, customer or subscriber records, or a “subscriber number or identity” as defined in the Stored Communications Act?

(10) Under American intelligence law, the Federal Bureau of Investigation can seek an order requiring the production of “any tangible thing[] (including books, records, papers, documents, and other items)” if they are deemed relevant to certain foreign intelligence investigations. See 50 U.S.C. § 1861.
Does Apple consider fingerprint data to be “tangible things” as defined in the USA PATRIOT Act?

(11) Under American intelligence law, the Federal Bureau of Investigation can unilaterally issue a National Security Letter that compels telecommunications providers to disclose “subscriber information” or “electronic communication transactional records in its custody or possession.” National Security Letters typically contain a gag order, meaning that recipients cannot disclose that they received the letter. See, e.g., 18 U.S.C. § 2709.
Does Apple consider fingerprint data to be “subscriber information” or “electronic communication transactional records” as defined in the Stored Communications Act?

(12) Does Apple believe that users have a reasonable expectation of privacy in fingerprint data they provide to Touch ID?

Thank you for your time and attention to these questions. I ask that Apple answer these questions within a month of receiving this letter.

Sincerely,

Al Franken
Chairman, Senate Judiciary Subcommittee
on Privacy, Technology and the Law

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Comments

  1. 8. No, because NSA.

    • Jim Roxton - 11 years ago

      But that point is completely moot. All the NSA’s snooping and spying is essentially data mining, looking for patterns and keywords. It’s not specific to any one person unless red flags go up. The NSA doesn’t have any use for your fingerprint unless their data mining searching throw a red flag about you. In that case, if the NSA is that much interested in you, does it really matter if you have an iPhone 5S or not? They’ll get whatever they want either way… a black van will pull up next to you and suck you in, etc.

  2. Mike Levinstein - 11 years ago

    It looks like this is an older photo of the senator because the late senator, Arlen Spector is in the background and I’m pretty sure he’s been buried for a year now.

  3. Andrew Watson - 11 years ago

    I can pretty much answer almost all of these questions just with common sense. The fingerprint is stored on the device and used only for authentication, meaning the device does the authentication and only communicates the confirmation or fail. The fingerprint data will never be transmitted, nor owned by Apple or any third party. Also, I’m pretty sure if the government has reasonable cause it could get your fingerprints (hell, they could detain you and/or get your dna). Is it just me or is the only real question, can they use it to unlock your device against your will?, I mean can your fingers plead the fifth?

    • There is a point here. Am an apple fanboy too and i like the touch ID and feel its revolutionary. But nothing wrong in questioning apple’s responsibility here. We cant really believe any company for that matter, not only apple. There is nothing wrong in apple replying back explaining the tech, which will make people aware how secure it is. In fact it might raise awareness among users which will benefit apple in future when eventually it introduces payment systems using touch id(other than itunes).

  4. Tony Tribby - 11 years ago

    I wish Al had asked his staff to better understand this technology before he sent this letter. There is *no* fingerprint data stored *anywhere*, not even on the phone itself. The fingerprint is scanned, converted into numerical data which is then run through a hash, and *that* is what is stored. You can’t reverse engineer the seed data from a hash, let alone reverse engineer the image that created the data. When you scan your fingerprint, the phone makes a new hash and compares it to the stored one, there is *no* storage of the actual fingerprint.

    • Connor Bailey - 11 years ago

      That is still the fingerprint data, and there is still question as to where that data is stored. Even encrypted, people would like to know if it is stored in Apple servers or locally on the chip. Apple has, of course, already stated that all fingerprint data is stored locally.

  5. Lee Smith (@seelee) - 11 years ago

    Look at the Democrat politician suddenly acting like he cares about our privacy! (shakes head)

    • Jim Roxton - 11 years ago

      Al Franken has always led the charge on issues like this. Don’t believe the media telling you to view the country as strictly red or blue. Lindsey Graham, a hardcore Republican, recently stated that he doesn’t care if the NSA reads his emails.

      • Matt McLeod - 11 years ago

        Republican or Democ-rat are all the same. All corrupt and subject to powerful Saudi Oil Sheikhs!

      • Lee Smith (@seelee) - 11 years ago

        If he truly cared, he’d be quizzing the administration instead. Just empty showboating here.

    • mikabass (@mikabass) - 11 years ago

      Right and who started it all with the patriot act. shut up with that junk. tech talk or no talk!

      • Matt McLeod - 11 years ago

        Muhamed Bush started it. What difference does it make? They are all deeply entrenched in the islamic crap!

  6. Is this old fart really qualified to ask these questions? Why hasn’t he published an open letter to other companies like Google with their search tool “Now” and Microsoft with their always on “Kinect” technology who are clearly going a lot further than Apple into the grey area of privacy.

  7. Matt McLeod - 11 years ago

    Has the Senator considered asking his own president about how his government is stalking citizens?

  8. Gregory Wright - 11 years ago

    When will Senator Franken ask consumers to take responsibility for their privacy? Enough already.

  9. How do people take this guy seriously?

  10. Benjamin (@NSbenjamins) - 11 years ago

    unfortunately Al Franken is turning into just another politician.

  11. Brent Olsen - 11 years ago

    Does he not know that biometric protection has been used for many years on laptops. where was he when HP and the other computer companies were putting it in the laptops. There is no more security risk to consumer now that apple is doing it better. Another example of government getting involved in things they have no business in.

  12. Nick Nasra (@dissection) - 11 years ago

    This is ridiculous. Lenovo laptops had fingerprint scanners back in 2008… this is all for show.

  13. Dustin Johnson (@dustymj) - 11 years ago

    Al Franken is not asking these questions out of his own incompetence, he’s asking them so the American people can have assurance from the company on exactly how the device will use their fingerprint data. Looking at the situation from that perspective, isn’t he doing is job?

    • Matt McLeod - 11 years ago

      Do you include Arabs in the definition of “American People”?

      • Tayo Adewale (@muyaad) - 11 years ago

        Matt, I think you have a personal problem that you should attend to b4 you come here and make any comment or response.
        You called Bush Muhammad, you brought Saudi to the issue and you asked if Arabs were included in American definition.
        If you can’t be subjective or relevant to the discussed topic, why can’t you take a leave and get a rest.

      • Matt McLeod - 11 years ago

        Listen Mr. Mutayo Mubombo,

        The reason that all this is going on is because of the Islamists of your kind swarming in the western world. We have had enough of you already. Please go back to your muslim countries where you can live up to the standards of your Islamic “Utopian Ideals”, and leave us alone. We wish you success and all the best in your progressive countries. Thanks.

  14. Bob G - 11 years ago

    This is a great marketing opportunity for Apple. The Senator asks questions that are on the minds of the average Joe/Jane that don’t read Apple blogs every day. By providing positive public responses (that are picked up by every Blog and media outlet in the US) that allay privacy concerns in a highly respected public forum (i.e. response to a US Senator), Apple has a unique opportunity to build credibility for the security of their devices. (= more iphones sold). Maybe Al got a free gold iphone to write the letter.

Author

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Jordan Kahn

Jordan writes about all things Apple as Senior Editor of 9to5Mac, & contributes to 9to5Google, 9to5Toys, & Electrek.co. He also co-authors 9to5Mac’s Logic Pros series.