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Apple CEO Tim Cook Calls for Stronger Privacy Regulations Following 'Dire' Facebook Data Scandal

Most idiots driving now bother reading any of the privacy info anyway. All they are saying now is if it had a (normally ignored) click through that said it was fir political ad targeting it would have been ok. The problem here is the users. This shakeup isn’t going to change that at all.
 
BootsWalking said:
Years ago Tim gave a speech railing against the user data-as-product business model of Silicon Valley, with the implied target being Google. Then we found out a few years later that Apple receives billions of dollars a year from Google to make Google the default search engine on Safari. I wonder how many years from today we'll find out Apple receives billions of dollars a year from Facebook for their integration into iOS. Hypocrite much Tim?
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It's already happened; any device you buy that comes with any facebook app, facebook has paid for it to be there.
 
Apple should have created a 'useful' social media space starting back in the iTools/dot Mac days. Service, fact checked news and entertainment driven only. That would have pre-empted the rise of FB and Twitter and we would have seen much less or none of this disgusting fakenews/bots/CambridgeAnalytica horror.

Probably now is a good window of opportunity. Don't know though. Even Apple has allowed terrible misinformation and frauds in the News app and App store.
 
deanthedev said:
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?
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I am curious how you would arrive at such a major reach?

Apple singled out Facebook and Twitter for direct integration. If there's a financial agreement behind this, Apple is benefitting from Facebook's shady policies.

There should be an integration API that any social platform could leverage. There shouldn't a be special integration for two platforms for financial gain.

And yes, I'm an AAPL shareholder.
 
SoyCapitanSoyCapitan said:
Apple should have created a 'useful' social media space starting back in the iTools/dot Mac days. Service, fact checked news and entertainment driven only. That would have pre-empted the rise of FB and Twitter and we would have seen much less or none of this disgusting fakenews/bots/CambridgeAnalytica horror.

Probably now is a good window of opportunity. Don't know though. Even Apple has allowed terrible misinformation and frauds in the News app and App store.
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Nothing to say IF Apple had done that they wouldn't be where FB/Twitter/Google are today. Apple trades off privacy now because it doesn't have as many tentacles in social media and couldn't possible compete if it tried. The space is too mature. But back in the early days of FB/Twitter/Google no one really understood the concept of scraping user data and selling to the high bidder. In fact, the media didn't think it was so damning back in 2008 when a certain presidential candidate based a good chunk of strategy on that user data.

Also people act like "fake news" is something news. But editors have been shaping news since the news existed. It's called "yellow journalism." Just before the turn of the 20th Century, years before the even radio broadcasting, that got the U.S. into a war with Spain.
 
FTC now opening a Facebook investigation. Stock down 5% this morning when most of the market is up.
 
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sirozha said:
How about removing integration with FaceBook from macOS, Tim?

Ten years ago I said that FaceBook was the worst invention the 21st century. Now ten years later, people are realizing that the thousands of hours of their lives they have wasted on FaceBook have been methodically harvested and organized into actionable data. So, it's a double whammy: folks have wasted thousands of hours and have turned themselves into a product that FaceBook is now marketing and selling to the highest bider. The sad part is that this cannot be undone.
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Amen to that. If you (or anyone who has you in their contacts) aren't careful in MacOS and add a Facebook account, it will gladly hoover up all your contacts and whisk them off to Facebook's servers.
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Rogifan said:
So how does all of this work when people expect everything on the internet to be free?
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I'd pay for something like Facebook if it wasn't in the business of selling my info to advertisers and god knows who else. Seriously, Facebook is of immense value for networking and keeping in touch, and I'd fork over a subscription fee IF that revenue stream meant them not renting my data out.

I'm paying Apple right now for iCloud (vs Google Drive) for the same reason -- and if it turned out Apple started compromising on privacy, I'd look elsewhere.
 
sirozha said:
I am curious how you would arrive at such a major reach?

Apple singled out Facebook and Twitter for direct integration. If there's a financial agreement behind this, Apple is benefitting from Facebook's shady policies.

There should be an integration API that any social platform could leverage. There shouldn't a be special integration for two platforms for financial gain.

And yes, I'm an AAPL shareholder.
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I would appreciate a general social network API, but I don't think money exchanged hands here. Apple probably implemented the contact sync, share sheet, etc. themselves, using Facebook's APIs.
 
mtneer said:
Does that mean he is now willing to walk his talk and pull back iCloud data from the hands of the Chinese?
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he may not have a choice about that. Apple has to follow the rules of the countries they do business in and the Chinese government may have told them to make this change or get out of the country. and they might be holding production access hostage as well. China has the largest accessible cache of the rare earth metals needed for computers etc to work. and they won't export the raw goods without major hoops etc. So this might be a case of 'do what we want or we will destroy your company because you won't be able to make any products to sell'
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TonyC28 said:
Tim Cook should understand this better than anyone. People trust Apple because Apple goes above and beyond with privacy and the government didn’t make them do that.
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the government was on the verge of making them when Apple decided to step up 'voluntarily'. now we have privacy controls, apps having to ask for access to anything and everything even when access is obvious (like a camera app asking for access to the camera and your photos library) etc.
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Will.O.Bie said:
I don't wanna sound anti-social but the more you put out there, the more you're susceptible to data harvesting and ad tracking.
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just for the record, there is nothing stopping MacRumors from doing the same thing. or someone creating an account and doing it. so if you really wanna play the game of "I don't want to be putting stuff out there for someone to harvest" you have to stop all online activity
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Naraxus said:
Correction, Apple's public narrative on privacy will be good for it's image. Behind the scenes however, they'll continue to do what they've always done which is anything but a strong focus on privacy.
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have you got proof to back that up. if you do then don't you think you owe it to folks to show them that Cook is lying
 
charlituna said:
the government was on the verge of making them when Apple decided to step up 'voluntarily'. now we have privacy controls, apps having to ask for access to anything and everything even when access is obvious (like a camera app asking for access to the camera and your photos library) etc.
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just for the record, there is nothing stopping MacRumors from doing the same thing. or someone creating an account and doing it. so if you really wanna play the game of "I don't want to be putting stuff out there for someone to harvest" you have to stop all online activity
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I was referring to Apple's privacy measures when it comes to protecting our devices.

MacRumors could do that I suppose. But wouldn't you agree that there is way more personal data shared on Facebook than on a comment forum?
 
Septembersrain said:
What I'm saying is that Apple chooses to continue working on China. Do they absolutely have to?
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China has the largest and most accessible site for vital rare earth metals. without those metals right now you can't create computers, smart phones etc. and they don't export those metals to just anyone. which is why Microsoft, Nintendo, Samsung etc along with Apple have production in China. they have basically no choice.
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TonyC28 said:
I was referring to Apple's privacy measures when it comes to protecting our devices.

MacRumors could do that I suppose. But wouldn't you agree that there is way more personal data shared on Facebook than on a comment forum?
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if you're talking about data folks voluntarily post, sure. otherwise who knows really
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RickInHouston said:
Oh, the horror. Google knows I wake up at 6 am. Sets alarms for me. Turns on my coffee pot from upstairs and knows I have a kid that needs help with his homework every now and then.
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you might be surprised how useful that data can be to some folks. if I was a marketeer i might target you with more coffee ads, or children's products etc. seems like a tiny thing but it can be invaluable to many businesses
 
Chupa Chupa said:
Nothing to say IF Apple had done that they wouldn't be where FB/Twitter/Google are today. Apple trades off privacy now because it doesn't have as many tentacles in social media and couldn't possible compete if it tried. The space is too mature. But back in the early days of FB/Twitter/Google no one really understood the concept of scraping user data and selling to the high bidder. In fact, the media didn't think it was so damning back in 2008 when a certain presidential candidate based a good chunk of strategy on that user data.

Also people act like "fake news" is something news. But editors have been shaping news since the news existed. It's called "yellow journalism." Just before the turn of the 20th Century, years before the even radio broadcasting, that got the U.S. into a war with Spain.
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We know fake news isn't new ;)

But we are here today and we expect better.
 
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