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"Apple has divulged details of the data requests it has received from governments across the world. The Cupertino firm revealed that the US authorities made the most requests for customer data, lodging between 1,000 and 2,000 inquiries between January and June.  Unable to disclose specific figures, the company said that the data requests affected between 2,000 and 3,000 accounts, adding that it revealed details of between zero and 1,000 of these. Apple said that the most common requests involve disclosing data such as names and addresses associated with iTunes or iCloud accounts to aid missing person investigations, robberies and other crimes. &amp;quot;In very rare cases, we are asked to provide stored photos or email. We consider these requests very carefully and only provide account content in extremely limited circumstances,&amp;quot; said the iPhone maker.  Great Britain came in second on the data requests list with 127 inquiries, while Spain, Germany and Australia rounded out the top five. Apple also spoke out against the US government&amp;#039;s &amp;quot;gagging order&amp;quot; preventing it from revealing specific details of such requests to its customers. &amp;quot;Despite our extensive efforts in this area, we do not yet have an agreement that we feel adequately addresses our customers&amp;#039; right to know how often and under what circumstances we provide data to law enforcement agencies,&amp;quot; the firm added. Google, Facebook and Microsoft have also lobbied the Obama administration for more transparency over user data requests after the controversial PRISM surveillance system was brought to light by whistleblower Edward Snowden.  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tech/apple/news/a529175/apple-discloses-government-data-requests/>