US courts fielded over 130 requests for access to push notification metadata

An investigation highlights widespread law enforcement use of push notification metadata from Apple, Google, and third-party providers, with over 130 U.S. court petitions citing such data to aid criminal probes despite encrypted messaging. The report underscores privacy risks, potential abuse by foreign governments, and possible use in sensitive contexts like abortion-related cases, while noting Apple and Google’s moves toward greater transparency. It also cites the Pushwoosh case to illustrate how push notification ecosystems and related identifiers (e.g., advertising IDs) can enable tracking and profiling.