WASHINGTON: US technology giant Apple is fighting Chinese claims that the iPhone threatens national security through its ability to track and time-stamp a user’s location.

The frequent locations function, which can be switched on or off by users, is available on iOS 7, the operating system used by the current generation of iPhones released in September 2013. ”We appreciate CCTV’s effort to help educate customers on a topic we think is very important,” Apple said Saturday in a statement in Chinese and in English on its China website.

“We want to make sure all of our customers in China are clear about what we do and we don’t do when it comes to privacy and your personal data.”  Ma Ding, director of the Institute for Security of the Internet at People’s Public Security University in Beijing, told Chinese state broadcaster CCTV on Friday that the frequent locations function could be used to gather “extremely sensitive data,” and even state secrets.

But Apple strongly denied the claim. ”As we have stated before, Apple has never worked with any government agency from any country to create a backdoor in any of our products or services,” it said. ”We have also never allowed access to our servers. And we never will. It’s something we feel very strongly about.”  

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