Speaking at the Virtual Conference on Computers, Privacy and Data Protection, Apple CEO Tim Cook today condemned the business model of enterprises such as Facebook and emphasized Apple’s commitment to promoting privacy by users.
‘In a moment of unbridled disinformation and conspiracy theories used by algorithms, we can no longer turn a blind eye to a theory of technology that says all engagement is good engagement – the longer the better – and all with the aim to collect as much data as possible, ‘Cook said. “It’s long overdue to stop pretending that this approach has no cost – of polarization, of lost confidence and, yes, of violence,” he added.
Cook highlighted two recent privacy measures taken by Apple, including privacy labels in the App Store and transparency about app tracking, which requires apps to ask permission to track users starting with the next iOS 14, iPad 14 and tvOS 14 betas. Apple says the software updates will be released in early spring.
Today is Data Privacy Day, and Apple marked the occasion by sharing ‘A Day in the Life of Your Data’, an easy-to-understand PDF report that explains how third-party users follow user data on websites and apps, Apple’s privacy principles , and provides more details on application transparency.
In this YouTube video you can listen to Cook’s comments from 3:50:
A full transcript of Cook’s prepared remarks is available below.
Good afternoon.
John, thank you for the generous launch and for hosting us today.
It’s a privilege to join you on this enjoyable occasion of Data Privacy Day – and to learn from this expert panel.
A little over two years ago, together with my good friend, the much-missed Giovanni Buttarelli, and data protection regulators from around the world, I spoke in Brussels about the creation of a data-industrial complex.
At that event, we asked ourselves, ‘What kind of world do we want to live in?’
Two years later, we now have to take a good look at how we answered the question.
The fact is that an interconnected ecosystem of companies and database brokers, vendors of hoaxes and sellers of divisions, trackers and hucksters who just want to make a quick buck are more present in our lives than they ever were.
And it has never been so clear how it undermines our fundamental right to privacy and our social fabric as a result.
As I have said before, ‘if we accept that it is normal and inevitable that everything in our lives can be put together and sold, we lose so much more than data. We lose the freedom to be human. ‘
And yet it is a hopeful new season. A time of thoughtfulness and reform. And the most concrete progress of all is due to many of you.
To prove cynics and judgmentists wrong, the AVG has provided an important foundation for privacy rights around the world, and its implementation and enforcement must continue.
But we can not stop there. We need to do more. And we’re already seeing hopeful steps forward worldwide, including a successful ballot that strengthens consumer protection here in California.
Together, we must send a universal, humanistic response to those who claim the right to users’ private information about what should not be tolerated and what not.
As I said in Brussels two years ago, it is definitely time, not only for a comprehensive privacy law here in the United States, but also for global laws and new international agreements that address the principles of data minimization, user knowledge, user access and data security. the world.
At Apple, spurred on by the leadership of many of you in the privacy community, it was two years of relentless action.
We have worked to not only deepen our own privacy principles, but to create ripples of positive change throughout the industry.
We have repeatedly spoken out for strong encryption without backdoors, realizing that security is the foundation of privacy.
We have set new industry standards for data minimization, user control, and device processing for everything from location data to your contacts and photos.
At the same time that we have taken the lead in features that keep you healthy and sound, we have made sure that technologies such as a blood oxygen sensor and an ECG come with peace of mind that your health data stays yours.
And last but not least, we’ve introduced powerful, new requirements to promote user privacy through the App Store ecosystem.
The first is a simple but revolutionary idea that we call the privacy label.
Every app – including our own – should share their data collection and privacy practices, information that the App Store provides in a way that every user can understand and respond to.
The second is called App Tracking Transparency. At the foundation, ATT was about giving control back to users – telling them how their data was handled.
Users have been asking for this feature for a long time. We have worked closely with developers to give them the time and resources to implement it. And we are passionate about it because we think it has the great potential to make things better for everyone.
Because ATT responds to a very real problem.
Earlier today, we released a new article titled “A Day in the Life of Your Data”. It tells the story of how programs we use daily contain an average of six trackers. This code often exists to track and identify users in different applications. , monitor and record their behavior.
What the user sees in this case is not always what they get.
At the moment, users may not know whether the programs they use to spend time, to visit their friends or to find a place to eat, are in fact passing on information about the photos they took, the people in their contact list, or location data that reflects where they eat, sleep, or pray.
As the article shows, it seems that no information is too private or personal to be followed, earned money and put together in a 360-degree view of your life. The end result of it all is that you are no longer the customer, you are the product.
When ATT is fully operational, users will have a say in this type of detection.
Some may think that sharing this amount of information is worthwhile for more targeted advertising. I suspect many others will not appreciate it, just as most appreciate it when we built a similar feature into Safari that limited web trackers several years ago.
We consider the development of these types of privacy-oriented features and innovations to be a core responsibility of our work. We always have, we will always do.
The fact is that the debate on ATT is a microcosm of a debate we have been having for a long time – one where our position is very clear.
Technology does not require large amounts of personal data put together across dozens of websites and programs to succeed. Advertising exists and thrives for decades without it. And we are here today because the path of least resistance is seldom the path of wisdom.
If a business is built on deceptive users, on data mining, on choices that are not choices at all, it does not deserve our praise. It deserves reform.
We must not look away from the bigger picture.
In a moment of unbridled disinformation and conspiracy theories tapped by algorithms, we can no longer turn a blind eye to a theory of technology that says all engagement is good engagement – the longer the better – and all with purpose to collect as much data as possible.
Too many are still asking the question, “how much can we get away with?”, What are the consequences when they have to ask?
What are the consequences of conspiracy theories and violent incitement due to their high involvement?
What are the consequences of not only tolerating the content, but also rewarding things that undermine public confidence in life-saving vaccinations?
What are the consequences of thousands of users joining extremist groups, and then an algorithm continues to exist that recommends even more?
It is long overdue to stop pretending that this approach has no cost – of polarization, of lost confidence and, yes, of violence.
A social dilemma cannot be allowed to become a social catastrophe.
I think the past year, and certainly recent events, have brought the risk of this to all of us – as a society and as individuals as much as anything else.
Long hours spent at home, the challenge of letting children learn when schools closed, the worry and uncertainty about what the future would hold, all of these things gave a sharp relief to how technology can help – and how it can be used is harmed.
Will the future belong to the innovations that make our lives better, more fulfilling and more humane?
Or will it be one of the tools that draws our attention to the exclusion of all others, which exacerbates our fears and sums up extremism, to show ads that are more intrusively targeted about all other ambitions?
At Apple, we have long made our choice.
We believe that ethical technology is technology that works for you. It’s technology that helps you sleep, and you do not keep up. It tells you when you’ve had enough, giving you space to create, draw, write or learn, and not just refresh one more time. This is technology that can fade into the background when you are hiking or going swimming, but is there to warn you if your heart rate is increasing or help you if you have had a nasty fall. And that it always puts privacy and security first, because no one needs to trade the rights of their users to deliver a great product.
Call us naive. But we still believe that technology made by humans, for humans and with the well – being of humans, is too valuable a tool to abandon. We still believe that the best measure of technology is the lives that enhance it.
We are not perfect. We will make mistakes. This is what makes us human. But our commitment to you is that we will now and always rely on the values that inspired our products from the beginning. Because what we share with the world is nothing without the trust our users have in it.
To all who have joined us today, we must all continue to move forward. Continue to set high standards that put privacy first. And take new and necessary steps to reform the broken.
We have made progress together, and we need to make more. Because the time is always right to be brave and courageous in the service of a world where, as Giovanni Buttarelli puts it, technology serves people, and not the other way around.
Thank you very much.
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