Apple may be looking at adding further encryption protections to data it stores for customers in its iCloud service, but it has made no announcement yet, he added. “We have not provided source code to the Chinese government…I just want to be very clear on that,” Sewell emphasized.

Seeing the underlying code could allow government experts or hackers to develop new ways to crack through the device’s security protections and access users information. Sewell said the Chinese request had come in the last two years as he repeatedly sought to make the point that Apple had not given access to the iOS software code that runs the iPhone. Some lawmakers on Tuesday’s panel questioned whether Apple had given special treatment to China that it refused U.S. law enforcement over breaking security protections on iPhones. The question of whether Apple granted China special access has come up several times during the company’s recent fights with U.S. “We have been asked by the Chinese government,” Apple general counsel Bruce Sewell said on Tuesday at a subcommittee hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

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