Apple CEO Tim Cook to Speak at European Data Protection Conference in Brussels Later This Month

[MacRumors]

Apple CEO Tim Cook will be the keynote speaker at the 2018 International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners, the European Data Protection Supervisor announced today.

Cook will give the keynote speech at "Debating Ethics: Dignity and Respect in Data Driven Life," a public session of the conference set to take place on Wednesday, October 24.

"We are delighted that Tim has agreed to speak at the International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners. Tim has been a strong voice in the debate around privacy, as the leader of a company which has taken a clear privacy position, we look forward to hearing his perspective. He joins an already superb line up of keynote speakers and panellists who want to be part of a discussion about technology serving humankind."

The session Cook is headlining is meant to start a global discussion on "right and wrong in the development and use of digital technology."

As TechCrunch points out, Cook's attendance at the conference comes as U.S. lawmakers are considering online data protection rules similar to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Europe implemented earlier this year.

Apple is a major advocate for privacy and the tech company that is the most invested in protecting consumer data. Cook and other Apple executives speak often on the importance of consumer data privacy.

In a June interview, for example, Cook said that privacy "from an American point of view" is one of the "key civil liberties" defining what it means to be American. He also often points out that Apple's customers are not its product.

"We could make a ton of money if we monetized our customers," Cook said in March. "If our customers were our product. We've elected not to do that. We're not going to traffic in your personal life."

Just yesterday, Cook spoke passionately about privacy and the need for government privacy protections in a VICE News Tonight interview.

I see privacy as one of the most important issues of the 21st century. We're at a stage now where more information is available about you online and on your phone than is in your house. Chances are, your phone knows what you've been browsing, knows your friends, knows your relationships, has all of your photos.

I mean, just think about this and the magnitude of information. We take that seriously. I'm not a pro regulation kind of person, I believe in a free market deeply when the free market doesn't produce a result that's great for society, you have to ask yourself what do we need to do? And I think some level of government is important to come out of it at this time.

Cook went on to explain that there's a need to work with Congress to make sure that tech companies are doing their jobs of helping regulators come up to speed on what's possible in terms of the data being collected and how it's being used.

Apple just recently sent longtime employee and Vice President of Software Technology Bud Tribble to a Senate Commerce Committee to offer support for federal privacy regulations, where he explained Apple's approach to privacy and the company's effort to minimize the amount of data collected.

To Apple, privacy means much more than having the right not to share your personal information. Privacy is about putting the user in control when it comes that information. That means that users can decide whether to share personal information and with whom. It means that they understand how that information will be used. Ultimately, privacy is about living in a world where you can trust that your decisions about how your personal information is shared and used are being respected. We believe that privacy is a fundamental human right, which should be supported by both social norms and the law.

Cook is likely to share many of the same sentiments again at the data protection conference he's attending later this month.

Other "Debating Ethics" panel attendees will include World Wide Web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee, philosopher Anita Allen, former chief justice of India Jagdish Singh, HKUST AI research director Pascale Fung, and computer philosophy writer Jaron Lanier.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: Apple CEO Tim Cook to Speak at European Data Protection Conference in Brussels Later This Month

 

[meaning-matters]

Privacy to choose my information sources, Tim?

 

[BootsWalking]

LOL, Tim will speak about data protection and privacy ethics while getting $9 Billion dollars a year from Google to enable Google's privacy-invading business model on every phone Tim sells.

 

[keysofanxiety]

Privacy to choose my information sources, Tim?

This comment is a top-shelf tin of beans because boy, did you have to reach for that.

 

[Bollockser]

I liked Steve's reality distortion field better than Tim's.

 

[supercoolmanchu]

LOL, Tim will speak about data protection and privacy ethics while getting $9 Billion dollars a year from Google to enable Google's privacy-invading business model on every phone Tim sells.

Well, except the $ is only for the default search engine setting. Apple doesn’t share any user data with them.

If Google is foolish enough to pay billions for something I change instantly, then they are a stupid business.

 

[meaning-matters]

This comment is a top-shelf tin of beans because boy, did you have to reach for that.

I'm tall.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Tim is really not a great public speaker..
The delta between him and Steve is gigantic

 

[supercoolmanchu]

I liked Steve's reality distortion field better than Tim's.

Tim doesn’t have one. But he still uses his 90s LL Bean brand boring field.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Tim doesn’t have one. But he still uses his 90s LL Bean brand boring field.

Boy no kidding..

Tim is the personification of "canoeing on a creek in Maine wearing convertible khaki anti-insect pants"

 

[coolfactor]

LOL, Tim will speak about data protection and privacy ethics while getting $9 Billion dollars a year from Google to enable Google's privacy-invading business model on every phone Tim sells.

Users want Google search because it works very well. I use DuckDuckGo, but it doesn't come close to presenting accurate and expected search results in many cases. I always fall back to doing a Google search when I need to "trust" the search results or find something that DDG didn't present on the first page of results.

If people were really concerned about Google, just use a Private/Incognito window in your browser. Every major browser has them these days. You'll seem anonymous with every search. On iOS, Private browsing mode can be left on by default all the time.

Some facts:

• It's only max $3 billion, not $9 billion. Do you have a source that counters this?
• Google is choosing to pay to be the default search engine in Safari for iOS, but users can change this at any time.
• Apple is not leveraging the paid Google position to compromise the privacy of its users. Only Google benefits.

Sources from August 2017:

• https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/14/goo...lion-to-remain-default-search--bernstein.html
• https://www.businessinsider.com/goo...default-search-engine-analyst-estimate-2017-8

 

[Morgenland]

LOL, Tim will speak about data protection and privacy ethics while getting $9 Billion dollars a year from Google to enable Google's privacy-invading business model on every phone Tim sells.

I think that is only for the default search engine setting. Otherwise, if you know more specific details, please give us references/hard facts...
[doublepost=1538592900][/doublepost]In general I liked everything Tim said in the quoted VNT interview.

 

[BootsWalking]

I think that is only for the default search engine setting. Otherwise, if you know more specific details, please give us references/hard facts...

What more facts do you need? Tim Cook rails against Google's entire business model but then enables that model on his own products in exchange for $9B/year. How is the fact that he accomplishes that by making Google the default search engine any less egregious? He's steering people to a company who by Tim's own vociferous claims violates peoples' privacy as a matter of practice and business model.
[doublepost=1538593015][/doublepost]

Users want Google search because it works very well. I use DuckDuckGo, but it doesn't come close to presenting accurate and expected search results in many cases. I always fall back to doing a Google search when I need to "trust" the search results or find something that DDG didn't present on the first page of results.

If people were really concerned about Google, just use a Private/Incognito window in your browser. Every major browser has them these days. You'll seem anonymous with every search. On iOS, Private browsing mode can be left on by default all the time.

Some facts:

• It's only max $3 billion, not $9 billion. Do you have a source that counters this?
• Google is choosing to pay to be the default search engine in Safari for iOS, but users can change this at any time.
• Apple is not leveraging the paid Google position to compromise the privacy of its users. Only Google benefits.

Sources from August 2017:

• https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/14/goo...lion-to-remain-default-search--bernstein.html
• https://www.businessinsider.com/goo...default-search-engine-analyst-estimate-2017-8

The source is in the Bloomberg article I posted (Goldman Sachs). You're countering that with a source that's over a year old instead?

And Apple isn't leveraging Google's position? They're getting $9B/year to enable Google's compromising their own users' privacy.

 

[Bollockser]

#ImpeachCook

 

[Defthand]

Cook should realize that society abandoned privacy long ago, and technology vendors were the nail in the coffin. We have GPS trackers attached to us, surveillance cameras in public venues, camera drones with no boundries, digital records of communications on company servers, credit ratings, Internet journalism, paparazzi, and social media. The majority of us haven’t objected.

Cook hasn’t cited a single example of how data aggregation and monetization has harmed anyone.

Eventually, people will expect devices to proactively anticipate their needs and even advise them. Apple is a hardware manufacturer and media distributor. It’s not a data aggregator like Google. Apple will be at a disadvantage when customers expect their devices to do more than entertain. Cook is simply going on the attack to delay the inevitable.

 

[justperry]

LOL, Tim will speak about data protection and privacy ethics while getting $9 Billion dollars a year from Google to enable Google's privacy-invading business model on every phone Tim sells.

And it also says in the link you provided:

Of course it's possible that Goldman's estimates are wildly wrong. Neither Google nor Apple disclose the payments flowing between the companies or any other terms of their business arrangements.

....

 

[BootsWalking]

And it also says in the link you provided:

....

Yeah, because Goldman Sachs became the most successful investment bank in the world by frequently being wildly wrong.

 

[justperry]

Yeah, because Goldman Sachs became the most successful investment bank in the world by frequently being wildly wrong.

You are completely ignoring what was said, but again:

Of course it's possible that Goldman's estimates are wildly wrong.

Provide a source that accurately says how much money is changing hands, guess what, I will wait forever because you CAN'T provide it.

 

[Defthand]

If people were really concerned about Google, just use a Private/Incognito window in your browser. Every major browser has them these days. You'll seem anonymous with every search.

Not quite. Apple’s private browsing mode simply omits your activity from the browsing history and temporarily deactivates cookies. It doesn’t function like a VPN. Internet sites can still see your IP address.

As an experiment, activate private browsing and visit Range Rover’s website, for example. Later, with private browsing turned off, you will eventually see ads for Range Rover on sites that host Google’s Ad Sense.

 

[BootsWalking]

You are completely ignoring what was said, but again:

Provide a source that accurately says how much money is changing hands, guess what, I will wait forever because you CAN'T provide it.

Goldman Sachs estimated the payment from Google at $9B/year - that's my source. Your counter-argument is that the Bloomberg reporter said Goldman's estimated might be wildly wrong in a footnote of the article, for which he provides no information or source to support that claim?

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

Tim thinks privacy is very important, and next he will sell you a $1,999 iPhone XI to prove it.

 

[Naraxus]

El oh el. How about getting someone that actually believes in privacy rather than someone that pays lipservice to it?

 

[Tech198]

All companies think their private... it's the only they do business. I would never push everything online,. I concern for being hackked will sink in sooner.

If i was gonna be hacked, rather be in control of it

 

[andyjam]

This would rule out an event in Cupertino on the 24th (and probably 25th).

 

[RightMACatU]

Lllllove Brussels! (S'all I got to say)