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Tim Cook Says Apple's Customers Are Not Its Product, Unlike Facebook (arstechnica.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the unfortunate-situations dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Apple CEO Tim Cook said in an interview with MSNBC and Recode on Wednesday that Silicon Valley, and notably Facebook, should be far more careful with its customers' data in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica disclosures. "I think the best regulation is no regulation, is self-regulation," he said, according to Recode. "However, I think we're beyond that here." Cook reiterated points that he and former CEO Steve Jobs made previously, that Apple's business model -- unlike Google, Facebook, and many other tech companies -- is predicated on selling physical products rather than capturing data about customers. "We've never believed that these detailed profiles of people that have incredibly deep personal information that is patched together from several sources should exist," he said, according to The Wall Street Journal. "The truth is, we could make a ton of money if we monetized our customer -- if our customer was our product," he added. "We've elected not to do that."

10 of 244 comments (clear)

  1. They're elected not to do it... by BronsCon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ... for now.

    As an Apple user, I'm honestly surprised by this and don't expect it to continue for much longer.

    --
    APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
    1. Re:They're elected not to do it... by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 5, Insightful

      ... for now.
      As an Apple user, I'm honestly surprised by this and don't expect it to continue for much longer.

      To be fair, Apple sells actual products and provides services for those products. Facebook just provides a service "for free". Apple doesn't need money from your data while Facebook depends on it. The value of Apple depends on the value their products provide to you. The value of Facebook and their service depends on the value of your data - to you and others.

      --
      It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
    2. Re:They're elected not to do it... by jellomizer · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This is slashdot we don’t need to be fair.
      We want everything for free, with no consequences just like when we were under 10 years of age.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    3. Re:They're elected not to do it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I am a "Steve Jobs hater" and readily admit Apple under his leadership applied for many radical and abusive patents. Anyone that has read slashdot has been part of discussions on many nasty patents Apple was granted. I recall posters here indicating that Jobs might have applied for these patents to ensure no one else would do it.

      Many years of evidence showing most of those nasty patents not being implemented, including OS-level embedded advertisements, has proven those slashdot posters possibly correct.

      Just because Apple owns patents for customer abusive features does not necessarily mean that the company is customer abusive...beyond massive overpricing and living off of a reality distortion field instead of technical merit ;)

    4. Re:They're elected not to do it... by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 3, Insightful

      ... for now.

      As an Apple user, I'm honestly surprised by this and don't expect it to continue for much longer.

      C'mon.

      Apple has a long history of making good on that statement.

      Plus, They have learned over the past se real years that Privacy is a MARKETABLE Product Distinction, and they are getting a Well-deserved reputation as being the only OEM and platform that actually walks the walk in that regard.

      They also know that that reputation already translates into increased hardware sales of their products, particularly in the mobile arena.

      Why would they jeapordize that?

  2. Well it's true by SuperKendall · · Score: 5, Insightful

    People deride Apple for having high margins. But that is exactly how a company removes temptation to misuse data.

    Tim Cook was asked what he would do in this position, and he said "well I wouldn't put myself in this position". In a lot of ways Tim Cook feels the same about the cross tracking ads and things that most of the people on Slashdot does - he doesn't like them, doesn't participate in things like that, and furthermore has had Apple altering browsers to help block cross site tracking...

    Apple has a clear path to making money, when a company doesn't you can be sure there is SOME path to making money from you even if you are not paying directly.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Well it's true by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Absence of evidence is not evidence. You got nothing. Nothing.

    2. Re:Well it's true by nine-times · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Find someone Apple is selling this data to. Get back to us.

      "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence"

      In the abstract, you're right. However, if Apple wants to make money selling their user's data, then they have to make it public knowledge. If it's secret, then the people who want to buy the data won't know it's available. It's kind of like saying, prove to me that Apple isn't selling self-driving cars. Well, if they were, someone would know about it, or else they wouldn't be able to sell very many.

      So in this case, absence of evidence is evidence of absence.

  3. Whoa there chuckles by SuperKendall · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "All the information you provide may be transferred or accessed by entities around the world as described in this Privacy Policy."

    Which is the same "no answer" answer I've had out of them when I've asked over the last ten years.

    It's actually a very clear answer; you just are not listening.

    I'm not sure you've not been able to figure out this giant mystery when everyone else knows how iCloud works. They take your data into pieces, encrypt and store that data usually around the region you are in, but possibly in other regions as well (it could be spread around) and then all metadata related to the data is held on Apple servers in your region.

    There's pretty much nothing anyone can do with the actual iCloud data being stored apart from the user with that iCloud account and access to the information needed to re-assemble it all.

    Do yourself a favour if you work in IT in the UK/EU and are checking for GDPR compliance - take all your Apple gear and bin it now.

    And use what exactly... the same servers Apple is using, only with unencrypted data?

    Instead of puking all over a solution because Apple, you should be treasuring a company that actually values security and takes the effort to make it all fairly secure.

    Sad that an IT worker would seek to weaken protection around other people's data just 'cause he's mad.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  4. Kicking FB while they are down are we? by bobbied · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Read this for what it is. Tim is just kicking Facebook in the teeth while hey are down.

    Why do I say this? FB's users ARE the thing they collect data about and sell, yea that's true. But who doesn't already know that Apple collects their user's information in order to market to their users? The only difference is Apple may not SELL the data to OTHERS to do this. But as big as Apple is this sure seems like a distinction without any difference given that they do collect marketing data.

    --
    "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101