Apple: We refused to give China source code

Apple’s top lawyer is pushing back emphatically against claims the company shared its proprietary source code with the Chinese government.

{mosads}“I want to be very clear on this: We have not provided source code to the Chinese government,” Apple General Counsel Bruce Sewell told lawmakers before a subpanel of the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Tuesday.

Disclosing the source code, the instructions that underlie computer programs, could allow a third party to open an unauthorized backdoor into Apple’s operating system.

Sewell acknowledged the company was approached by the Chinese government in the last two years to disclose its source code.

“We refused,” he said.

Sewell addressed the issue after a law enforcement official during an earlier panel alluded to the allegation against Apple. Sewell said he hadn’t planned to discuss the issue but changed his mind.

“I think I owe it to this committee to add one additional thought,” he said.

During the first panel, Capt. Charles Cohen, commander of Indiana State Police intelligence and investigative technologies, brought up media reports that the company had disclosed its source code to China in exchange for permission to operate in the country.

That claim became the subject of fierce questioning from Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), who pushed back against Cohen’s suggestion.

“I think I heard you say that Apple had disclosed its source code to the Chinese government. That’s a huge allegation to base on some news stories. Can you confirm this?” Eshoo said.

“What I said was, in preparing my testimony I had found several news stories but I was unable to find anything to either confirm or deny—” Cohen replied.

“Did you say that?” Eshoo said, cutting him off. “I think it’s very important for the record that we set this straight because that takes my breath away. That’s a huge allegation.”

Such suspicions have dogged Apple throughout the debate over whether it should provide U.S. law enforcement with guaranteed access to secure data on Apple products seized in criminal and terrorism investigations.

Industry observers have expressed skepticism that Apple can maintain access to China’s lucrative but highly regulated tech market without providing some kind of concession to Chinese authorities.

The U.S. government itself pushed the allegations as Apple fought an FBI request to disable security features on an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino attackers. It accused Apple of making “special accommodations” for China but not for FBI investigators.

The claims outraged Apple, which criticized the government for using “unidentified Internet sources to raise the specter that Apple has a different and sinister relationship with China.”

— Updated 5:17 p.m.