• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, April 2, 2026

“Hide My Email” is an Apple tool that allows paid Apple iCloud+ users to create anonymous email addresses for incoming emails, and have those messages sent to their private email address. 

But as with many technical marvels, it’s not what it seems. In two reported cases, Apple provided federal agents with the identities of supposedly anonymous  iCloud+ users who used the Hide My Email feature, TechCrunch reports in a scary investigative piece.

In the first instance, the FBI was investigating an email that allegedly threatened Alexis Wilkins, the reported girlfriend of FBI Director Kash Patel. 

According to TechCrunch, Apple provided the purported sender’s full name and email address and records for 134 anonymized email accounts created using the Hide My Email feature.

In the second case, Apple responded to a search warrant and provided records to an ICE unit during a probe of a suspected identity fraud scheme. 

What Apple did was legal—in fact, required by law. But it undermines the company’s claim that nobody can see its customers’ encrypted data, not even Apple itself, TechCrunch argues. Obviously, someone could see it. 

The old direct-marketing business had a three-word credo for dealing with issues like this: Do no harm. That is, don’t let marketing tools be used for government enforcement activities involving consumers.

But there was one exception to this rule: When the police or another agency came in armed with a subpoena or search warrant. Those, of course, had to be obeyed. 

But the principle remains the same. If consumers think their data isn’t secure, they will stop dealing with a company. And the publicity from revelations like this can possibly harm a company's brand image.