Apple CEO Tim Cook has strongly condemned business models based on collecting user data, saying that prioritizing commitment above all else leads to misinformation, mistrust and even real-world violence.
Apple’s chief executive gave the opening speech at a panel at the European Conference on Computers, Privacy and Data Protection (CPDP) on Thursday. During his discussion, he addressed a variety of issues, including Apple’s privacy efforts and the dangers of business models that rely on collecting user data.
“As I said before, if we accept that normally everything in our lives can be aggregated and sold, then we lose much more than the data. We lose the freedom to be human,” Cook said.
Although Cook did not mention Facebook by name, the social media giant’s business model was a clear target.
“In a time of misinformation and conspiracy theories drawn by algorithms, we can no longer close our eyes to a theory of technology that says any commitment is good and the longer it lasts, the better,” Cook said.
He said some of the consequences of the deal could undermine public confidence in life-saving vaccinations, polarization and even real-world violence perpetuated by extremist groups.
“If a business is based on misleading users, data exploitation, options that are not choices at all, it is not worth our praise,” Cook said. – Deserves contempt.
The CEO also highlighted some of the ways Apple works to protect privacy, including the new App Store privacy nutrition labels and the App Tracking Transparency (ATT) feature to be launched in the spring. Cook added that Apple has worked not only to strengthen its own privacy principles, “but to create waves of positive change across the industry.”
“At Apple, we made our choice a long time ago. We believe that ethical technology is a technology that works for you. It’s a technology that helps you sleep, it doesn’t keep you up. It tells you when you arrived, it gives you space to create, draw, write or learn, not to refresh once again. It’s a technology that can fade into the background when you’re on a trip or going to a bath, but it’s there to warn you when your heart rate is rising or help you when you’ve had a bad fall. And yet, privacy and security always comes first, because no one has to change the rights of their users to deliver a great product, ”Cook said.
In addition, Cook also praised the European data protection law GDPR and again called for similar legislation at the federal level in the US
In addition to Cook’s opening speech, Jane Horvath, Apple’s global head of privacy, attended the roundtable as a panelist. He was asked questions about Apple’s privacy features and the use of Google as the primary search engine.
Horvath also reiterated that all applications, including Apple, will have to comply with the company’s privacy policies. However, when it comes to advertising, Apple does not use IDFA. Instead, it uses a much more private advertising network. In terms of search, Horvath said that Google is the most popular search engine, but added that Apple accepts alternatives such as DuckDuckGo and Ecosia.
Cook’s speech comes at a time of growing tensions between Apple and Facebook, specifically over the aforementioned tracking function. Facebook ran newspaper ads across the page and used other tactics to criticize this feature. And shortly before Cook’s speech on Thursday, a report indicated that Facebook could plan to take its battle with Apple to court through an antitrust lawsuit.