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Apple CEO Tim Cook Calls for Stronger Privacy Regulations Following 'Dire' Facebook Data Scandal
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If you have a Google account you can go in and they have control panels that allow you to see a shocking and impressive amount of data that they have recorded and collected on you, including all voice commands to Google Assistant on your account and you can delete it all. You can also modify or turn off the collection of location or searches.
The problem is there is no way to be sure turning off all of that stuff turns it off for Google or just blocks it from your sight. They were caught collecting location data on phones that had location tracking turned off, so there is that to consider.
Another problem is that as you start using various functions on their apps or others that connect to your Google account, more data collection gets turned on. Even if it needs your permission and can be deleted later, it is more work than most people want to bother with to use Google's granular controls to delete and turn it all off again.
So, the path of least resistance is always going to be the default of allowing some data collection. In return I do get services and features that work incredibly well.
Facebook is different in that they were annoying and all of their shenanigans sabotaged the good things I joined to enjoy in the first place. By the time I left them I saw no benefit to FB whatsoever.
During the run up to the last US Presidential election, I saw friends fighting tooth and nail over fake news. I got emotionally exhausted messaging everyone to tell them that they were getting all worked up over stories about things that never happened or that were grossly distorted from legitimate news stories. Don't get me started on the proliferation of inaccurate and biased memes.
I saw lifelong friendships disintegrate on Facebook. It was frustrating seeing the manipulation take place and being able to wake up only a few friends about it. I saw otherwise intelligent friends lose their ever loving minds over the dreck that floated through the FB feeds. It was like watching some horrid social experiment conducted by psychopaths masquerading as scientists.
Very, very few people seemed able to stay the course and use FB as a simple vechicle for staying in touch via sharing of pictures and videos and a few snippets of updates on themselves. Too much came at us that was designed to inflame and draw out commentary and activism.
The problem is there is no way to be sure turning off all of that stuff turns it off for Google or just blocks it from your sight. They were caught collecting location data on phones that had location tracking turned off, so there is that to consider.
Another problem is that as you start using various functions on their apps or others that connect to your Google account, more data collection gets turned on. Even if it needs your permission and can be deleted later, it is more work than most people want to bother with to use Google's granular controls to delete and turn it all off again.
So, the path of least resistance is always going to be the default of allowing some data collection. In return I do get services and features that work incredibly well.
Facebook is different in that they were annoying and all of their shenanigans sabotaged the good things I joined to enjoy in the first place. By the time I left them I saw no benefit to FB whatsoever.
During the run up to the last US Presidential election, I saw friends fighting tooth and nail over fake news. I got emotionally exhausted messaging everyone to tell them that they were getting all worked up over stories about things that never happened or that were grossly distorted from legitimate news stories. Don't get me started on the proliferation of inaccurate and biased memes.
I saw lifelong friendships disintegrate on Facebook. It was frustrating seeing the manipulation take place and being able to wake up only a few friends about it. I saw otherwise intelligent friends lose their ever loving minds over the dreck that floated through the FB feeds. It was like watching some horrid social experiment conducted by psychopaths masquerading as scientists.
Very, very few people seemed able to stay the course and use FB as a simple vechicle for staying in touch via sharing of pictures and videos and a few snippets of updates on themselves. Too much came at us that was designed to inflame and draw out commentary and activism.
Says the company that gave the keys over to the cloud to China when caving in to their demand.
That's a very different thing. Apple is not taking your data and profile and selling it. Facebook is.
Those Facebook users got exactly what they deserved. They knew the risks when they signed up with Facebook that Facebook practically owned all their personal data. I really don't see why consumers would be so shocked by this scandal. The big investors certainly don't care how Facebook monetizes their business and I'm sure they're happy Facebook is sucking every piece of detailed information from consumers and using it against them to stuff their eyeballs with massive amounts of ads. When a consumer wants a free service they should realize nothing is ever free and sometimes they don't always see the actual price they're paying. In this case, it's just their privacy.
Tim Cook makes a big deal about privacy but consumers don't even care all that much about their own privacy. Apple has never been praised for protecting consumers' privacy and Apple is practically being penalized for doing so. Wall Street values Facebook much higher than Apple because Facebook can data-mine all those consumers to death. Apple turns out to be the big loser for not using those same data-mining techniques that all the most valued FANG stocks do. I'm sure Facebook is going to come back even stronger now that Zuckerberg has made a sincere apology. That's all it takes to make big investors happy if a company is only given a slap on the wrist and allowed to continue doing what it has been doing in the past. Facebook isn't going anywhere. No analysts have been telling investors to dump their Facebook stock. The analysts know the Feds aren't going to regulate Facebook or companies like Facebook who data-mine their users. It's doubtful many Facebook users are going to delete their accounts because they're so addicted to those social apps, they can't quit them. Those people are basically social app junkies who need their daily fix.
The FANG stocks will never be federally regulated, so they'll always stay highly valued and become the most powerful companies on the planet and continue doing whatever they please with consumers' information. If you want to dance to the FANG stock's free music you have to pay the piper by giving them your personal information. It seems like a fair trade for most users of those free services. Good for them.
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Any user can change the default search engine to another one of their own choices with just a couple of clicks. I'm sure most MacOS or iOS users know this much. There are plenty of other search engines to choose from. It's not like Tim Cook is forcing any user to stay with the default Google search engine. You can't blame Tim Cook for something like that. Google probably begged Tim Cook to use Google as the default search engine and none of the other search engine companies wanted to bid for the right.
Tim Cook makes a big deal about privacy but consumers don't even care all that much about their own privacy. Apple has never been praised for protecting consumers' privacy and Apple is practically being penalized for doing so. Wall Street values Facebook much higher than Apple because Facebook can data-mine all those consumers to death. Apple turns out to be the big loser for not using those same data-mining techniques that all the most valued FANG stocks do. I'm sure Facebook is going to come back even stronger now that Zuckerberg has made a sincere apology. That's all it takes to make big investors happy if a company is only given a slap on the wrist and allowed to continue doing what it has been doing in the past. Facebook isn't going anywhere. No analysts have been telling investors to dump their Facebook stock. The analysts know the Feds aren't going to regulate Facebook or companies like Facebook who data-mine their users. It's doubtful many Facebook users are going to delete their accounts because they're so addicted to those social apps, they can't quit them. Those people are basically social app junkies who need their daily fix.
The FANG stocks will never be federally regulated, so they'll always stay highly valued and become the most powerful companies on the planet and continue doing whatever they please with consumers' information. If you want to dance to the FANG stock's free music you have to pay the piper by giving them your personal information. It seems like a fair trade for most users of those free services. Good for them.
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Any user can change the default search engine to another one of their own choices with just a couple of clicks. I'm sure most MacOS or iOS users know this much. There are plenty of other search engines to choose from. It's not like Tim Cook is forcing any user to stay with the default Google search engine. You can't blame Tim Cook for something like that. Google probably begged Tim Cook to use Google as the default search engine and none of the other search engine companies wanted to bid for the right.
Correction, behind the scenes they have a strong focus on privacy. The meme on China aside, Cook has no choice, neither does any company who wants to do business in China.
But back in the good old us of a, Apple is walking the talk and talking the walk...totally opposite to Facebook, which is do as I say and not as I do.
They never "Have no choice".
They choose China for their own reasons and they cater to them for that. So privacy to them is an after thought from their profit.
They have no choice. Apple is doing business in China and must abide by local laws. I have no problem with abiding with local laws vs being duplicitous behind the scenes(Facebook). I totally support that they want the revenue from China and must do what they need to as long as their customers in China understand the implications.
What I'm saying is that Apple chooses to continue working on China. Do they absolutely have to?
As for Facebook, I wasn't surprised what happened. No one should be. Facebook is social media and monetarily gains from our information. It is more like "Oh they finally got caught!" rather than "I can't believe they violated my privacy!". Just my opinion.
The point is that using any personal information or meta information should be opt-in. This works for both people that value freedom of speech and privacy and people that will give it all up for a free service. There is no need to go one way or the other.
We need both choice and transparency.
Tim Cook was really a pioneer in recognizing how important privacy would become to Apple. Now it’s an incredible advantage exclusive to Apple, that their main competitors like Google simply cannot copy because data mining is absolutely at the centre of their entire company. It’s a crítical move that in time, is proving his critics wrong. He’s the perfect successor to Steve Jobs for the company Apple had to become to stay competitive while being true to its roots.
I wish we could have a website like Facebook but as a paid subscription. Then, the integration becomes quite useful: rather than having to maintain contacts' address details yourself, every one just has to update their own, and decide which parts to share with whom.
Alas, Safari is still limited to four built-in search engines, rather than letting users choose their own (even though Safari does support OpenSearch for searching a particular site!).
It wouldn’t surprise me if an argument would be made that willingly pulling out of China at this point would violate Apple’s fiduciary duty to their shareholders and therefore pose possible legal risks.
Regardless, realistically, Apple had no choice from a business perspective.
This is spot on.
Whether social media is “good” or “bad” really depends on what people post about themselves. I suppose if they’re not embarrassed or simply don’t care about what they post (and the potential ramifications of doing so), then social media is seen as a good thing.
Personally, I do use Facebook but it’s pretty sparse throughout the week. I’ll log in (I never stay logged in on FB on my phone- no thank you!) to briefly check my feed to see what’s going on in people’s lives, or to post something fun about my life.
But it’s always a one-off sort of thing for me, and like I said it’s brief and I never stay logged in. I’ll post a pic or leave a comment and that’s it. I’ll then come back in a few days. There is no “need” for me to be constantly logged in to Facebook. I don’t use it as a photo stream of my life, nor do I use it for news or any of that. I also don’t use Twitter or Snapchat. Does that make me a social pariah or troglodyte? Perhaps. I’m 33 though, so I’m not exactly old.
It also bothers me when I see my friends, who have families now and young kids, posting pics and vids of their kids on social media (e.g. online). I wonder what their kids will think when they grow older knowing their whole life (for better or worse) has been publically viewed online and their data harvested. At least we, and previous generations, had the choice whether we wanted ourselves on social media. Generation Z never was given that choice, and it will be interesting to see if they approve of that in the coming decades.
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Apple could do this itself. Remake the Contacts app to allow you to follow people. Either when you meet them, nearby iPhones would appear like they do for AirDrop where you could add them and they could accept, following them from iMessage app, or by simply entering their Apple ID and requesting from there. Then whenever they change their picture, phone number, address or any other details, they'd be updated in every one of their followers' Contacts.
I'm looking forward to Apple's rumoured Apple ID website authentication API to replace Facebook as a universal login.
"Fiduciary duty" is a norm, not a legal concept. They could vote Tim Cook out, but not sue.
True enough. Point still stands that Apple didn’t really have a choice except to follow the laws where they do business.
That’s not what you were asked. What’s going on behind the scenes at Apple? Do you have some inside information you’d like to share with us?
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I’m curious why you’re complaining about Facebook integration. I wonder, do you think this gives Facebook unfettered access to everything on your Mac?
I agree with him. I could certainly be better at avoiding privacy issues through different social media services, but I think it will be an important thing to consider moving forward. Apple’s stance on privacy is a big reason I chose this platform so it’s good to see that mindset not changing.
