Stories on data breach and the collection of data have plagued headlines for the past months, some which end-users don’t take lightly. Gaining access to personal data has become a growing concern, something that companies like Facebook and Google would be helpful as far as improving their product or service.
From hindsight that could make sense. However, Apple CEO Tim Cook begs to differ. In fact, he brands it as “a lot of bunk” and adds that user privacy is a human right and not a civil liberty, Fox News said.
Those who have been closely following Cook will note that this is not the first time that he has spoken about the sensitive issue. And while he did not directly mention any company, it is pretty clear that Cook was taking a swipe at Facebook and Google. The exclusive interview aired recently on Vice News Tonight.
“The narrative that some companies will try to get you to believe is: ‘I’ve got to take all of your data to make my service better,’” Cook said. “Well, don’t believe them.”
On his end, Cook explained that Apple could do the same and earn a ton of money from doing so. However, he said that the Cupertino-based company would never be caught doing this since they do see user privacy as a sensitive right by their clients.
Apple has followed a distinctive approach when it comes to privacy. They continue to offer hardware that makes it more difficult for external bodies to access user information. In fact, they made things tougher by enforcing a new privacy policy where all apps need to communicate how personal data would be used, CNBC said.
Despite Cook seemingly looking out for the welfare of customers, the conservative approach does pose as a problem for some of their core products such as Siri. With Apple facing stiff competition from other services such as Amazon’s Alexa, critics feel that their noble approach could backfire instead.
Regardless, the Apple top brass reiterated that they will continue to collect as little data as possible since they consider privacy as a pretty sensitive issue in the 21st century. However, he is open to working with lawmakers to see if they, as well as other tech companies, can come up with a product that will not put clients in an awkward and compromising position and deliver products that would benefit society.
"I think some level of government regulation is important to come out on that," said Cook in the interview.
