UPDATED 21:58 EDT / OCTOBER 24 2018

POLICY

In call for new privacy laws, Apple’s Tim Cook slams ‘data-industrial complex’

Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook has channeled former U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower in a rallying call for the introduction of new data privacy laws to protect consumers.

Speaking at a privacy conference in Brussels Wednesday, Cook (pictured) railed against what he dubbed the “data-industrial complex” that has “weaponized against us with military efficiency.”

“Every day, billions of dollars change hands, and countless decisions are made, on the basis of our likes and dislikes, our friends and families, our relationships and conversations. Our wishes and fears, our hopes and dreams,” Cook said. “These scraps of data, each one harmless enough on its own, are carefully assembled, synthesized, traded and sold.”

While not naming Google LLC and Facebook Inc. specifically, CNBC noted that the two companies are the largest that make money selling ads the way Cook describes. Cook is pushing for the introduction of privacy laws in the U.S. that would be similar in nature to Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation.

Despite Cook’s strong rhetoric, the speech has been reasonably well-received, albeit with some expressing skepticism about Cook’s real motive.

“Tim Cook’s comments echo what many privacy advocates have been saying for a long time, and we’re already starting to see progress in the U.S. along those lines, such as California’s Consumer Privacy Act,” Paul Bischoff, privacy advocate with Comparitech Ltd., told SiliconANGLE. But although he agrees with Cook in most respects, he pointed out that Apple benefits from his critique.

“Apple can ride a moral high horse when it comes to privacy because it does not primarily depend upon targeted advertising and the collection and sharing of personal data to make money,” Bischoff added. “Most of its competitors do, namely Google. Advocating for privacy laws is a practical way for Apple to indirectly lobby against Google.”

Colin Bastable, chief executive officer of Lucy Security Inc., questioned the motivation further. “Tim Cook takes a break from virtue signaling to throw rocks at Google and Facebook, because he wants to position himself and Apple as the good guys whilst the others are vulnerable,” he said. Moreover, he said, Apple is actually part of the problem as a tech giant that also has much information about its customers that could be vulnerable.

“These players hold massive quantities of data, and we should never assume that they will ever have our best interests at heart,” he said. “But even if they do offer massive convenience and free services out of the goodness of their hearts, we must assume that the bad guys want that data and will succeed in getting it. When the head of a trillion-dollar company stakes a claim to the moral high ground, we should take it with a pinch of salt. And hang onto our data as well as our wallets.”

Nonetheless, said Manish Sood, chief executive officer of Reltio Inc., Apple’s call for a U.S. privacy law similar to GDPR is both valid and timely.

“Five years ago, this initiative would have been too big of a burden for companies because customer data is sprinkled throughout organizations in dozens or hundreds of separate systems,” he said. “Scattered across multiple networks and lines of business, the only way to manage this data sprawl so that customer data privacy compliance is assured is to discover, organize and control all customer data from internal, external and third-party sources.”

Sood said modern data management technologies can help organizations automatically implement this capability.

“Those that view a U.S. privacy law as a regulatory burden rather than an opportunity have not yet internalized what it means to be a customer-driven company,” he said. “Your customers’ privacy is already table stakes today in effectively serving them.”

Photo: accdistrict/Flickr

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