Current Events > Apple CEO Tim Cook calls for GDPR-style privacy laws in the US.

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Tim Cook calls for GDPR-style privacy laws in the US

Apple CEO and long-time data privacy advocate Tim Cook has made an impassioned speech calling for new digital privacy laws in the US. At a privacy conference in Brussels, Cook said that modern technology has resulted in a "data-industrial complex" where personal information is "weaponized against us with military efficiency," and in a way that doesn't just affect individuals but whole sections of society.

"Platforms and algorithms that promised to improve our lives can actually magnify our worst human tendencies," said Cook. "Rogue actors and even governments have taken advantage of user trust to deepen divisions, incite violence, and even undermine our shared sense of what is true and what is false. This crisis is real. It is not imagined, or exaggerated, or crazy."

While Cook didn't specify the catalysts behind this crisis, it's clear he was nodding towards recent events such as the Cambridge Analytica Scandal, and ongoing concerns regarding political ad targeting. He didn't mention any companies by name, but he did, of course, reiterate Apple's commitment to privacy.

Cook praised Europe's "successful implementation" of privacy law GDPR, and said that "It is time for the rest of the world ... to follow your lead. We at Apple are in full support of a comprehensive federal privacy law in the United States." He outlined four key areas that he believes should be turned into legislation: the right to have personal data minimized; the right for users to know what data is collected on them; the right to access that data; and the right for that data to be kept securely.

Source/More Reading

https://www.engadget.com/2018/10/24/tim-cook-calls-for-gdpr-style-privacy-laws-in-the-us/

Tim Cook's full speech at the conference:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVhOLkIs20A" data-time="

Sundar Pichai pretending he cares about privacy lol:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpJtH9pNNEc" data-time="
to his credit Google has added some additional data control features over the past few years.

What do you think about all of this? Should US consumers be able to request our information removed like people in the EU? Are there other parts of the law you'd like to see here or not see here?
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UKer here. There are pros and cons to the way this whole thing has rolled out.

Pros;
- businesses at every level have had to become more accountable to data they hold onto to, implementing new procedures and being legally bound to not fuck with your data as much
- you can request a data report from pretty much anyone and request to have it deleted

Cons:
- as always with things like this it burns small businesses more than big ones. Small businesses having to take a hit on their bottom line, big businesses just thinking up more clever ways to be insidious
- do you have any idea how annoying it is to answer a pop up on every. single. website. If you clear out your cookies you'll have to do it all over again.
- most of these popups make it as annoying as possible to opt out, even though they really should be opting you out as a default.
- quite a lot of american sites are simply unavailable now
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pinky0926 posted...

- quite a lot of american sites are simply unavailable now

Some of our clients asked us to delete the data of literally everyone in their system if they were not able to tell which country the account came from. The ones that were European got the standard "We are e-mailing you about updates to our privacy policy" spam. American ones were ignored. I imagine a few other huge businesses did the same thing.
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Tyranthraxus posted...

Some of our clients asked us to delete the data of literally everyone in their system if they were not able to tell which country the account came from.

sounds like a growing pain to me.
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Kombucha posted...

Tyranthraxus posted...

Some of our clients asked us to delete the data of literally everyone in their system if they were not able to tell which country the account came from.

sounds like a growing pain to me.

It sounds like arbitrary law passed by politicians who don't know what the fuck they're talking about but what do I know I just work here.
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A little off the subject but how about the right to repair?

Fuck Tim Cook
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Yeah at this point.

The thing to avoid is limiting people's freedoms online. Not much point to security if people can't still do what they want.
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voldothegr8 posted...

A little off the subject but how about the right to repair?

Fuck Tim Cook

Should be mandatory.
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Tyranthraxus posted...

Kombucha posted...

Tyranthraxus posted...

Some of our clients asked us to delete the data of literally everyone in their system if they were not able to tell which country the account came from.

sounds like a growing pain to me.

It sounds like arbitrary law passed by politicians who don't know what the fuck they're talking about but what do I know I just work here.

Does your industry sell customer data?
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Tyranthraxus posted...

voldothegr8 posted...

A little off the subject but how about the right to repair?

Fuck Tim Cook

Should be mandatory.

Yeah right to repair is an uphill battle.
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Kombucha posted...

Tyranthraxus posted...

Kombucha posted...

Tyranthraxus posted...

Some of our clients asked us to delete the data of literally everyone in their system if they were not able to tell which country the account came from.

sounds like a growing pain to me.

It sounds like arbitrary law passed by politicians who don't know what the fuck they're talking about but what do I know I just work here.

Does your industry sell customer data?

No. We do not sell any data. Some of our customers ask to buy leads sometimes and we tell them we don't sell that information and refer them to people who do. That's as close as it gets and it's always been that way.
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