Tim Cook’s warning on regulations; get to know your turkey
Morning Business Outlook: Apple CEO Tim Cook issues warning on potential regulations and says tech companies should embrace them; turkey trackers are being used for first time on Jennie-O and Honeysuckle White turkeys allowing consumers to find information about their Thanksgiving birds.
Just weeks after Apple CEO Tim Cook warned U.S. consumers about dangers stemming from companies stockpiling their personal data, the tech mogul justified his ongoing relationship with one of those firms.
During an interview with Axios over the weekend, Cook said Apple continues to accept billions of dollars each year from Google – allowing it to remain the primary search engine on Apple’s products despite privacy concerns – because it has the best product.
“I think their search engine is the best,” he said. “Look at what we’ve done with the controls we’ve built in. We have private web browsing. We have an intelligent tracker prevention. What we’ve tried to do is come up with ways to help our users through their course of the day.”
Google recently made headlines for shutting down its Google+ feature after it was revealed unauthorized third parties were able to access users’ profile data for years – a fact the company failed to disclose. Additionally, according to an Associated Press investigation in August, the search giant stores location data even if users turn that feature off.
Last month, Cook called on the U.S. to enhance federal privacy protections, slamming any company that would oppose doing so.
“Today [the private information] trade has exploded into a data industrial complex. Our own information, from the everyday to the deeply personal, is being weaponized against us with military efficiency,” Cook said at a conference in Brussels on data privacy. “We shouldn’t sugarcoat the consequences. This is surveillance.”
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Cook went on to say that opposing privacy regulation “isn’t just wrong, it is destructive.”
While Cook refrained from naming any specific company, it is widely suspected he was referring to rivals Google and Facebook. Facebook came under intense scrutiny after unauthorized third parties gained access to user information in the runup to the 2016 presidential election.
Cook said Apple supports the implementation of comprehensive federal privacy laws across the globe that minimize data collection, let users know what data is being collected, allow users to access that data and keep all of their information secure.