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Tim Cook Says Ads That Follow You Online Are 'Creepy' (cnet.com)
In a wide-ranging interview with MSNBC and Recode, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that everyone should know how much data they're sharing and what can be inferred about us from that information. He added that privacy "is a human right" and said he's worried about how advertisers and others can abuse access to our data. "To me it's creepy when I look at something and all of a sudden it's chasing me all the way across the web," Cook said. "I don't like that." CNET reports: The comments came as part of a wide-ranging interview between Cook, MSNBC's Chris Hayes and Recode's Kara Swisher. MSNBC broadcast the special, named "Revolution: Apple changing the world" at 5 p.m. PT on Friday. The interview was taped the day after Apple's education event in Chicago, where the company introduced a new 9.7-inch iPad and tools for teachers. The two publications released some early clips and comments from Cook over the past couple of weeks. That included remarks he made about Facebook and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Cook noted that Apple purposely chose not to make "a ton of money" off its customers' data and that Facebook failed to effectively regulate itself, prompting a need for government intervention. Along with Facebook and its privacy issues, Cook talked up DACA and immigration, tax reform, the changing job landscape and the need for everyone to learn coding, among other topics.
Cook yapps out of both sides of his mouth. On the one hand, he claims to support privacy. On the other hand, Apple is nudging users against local storage and to Apple's own cloud services. Cloud = someone else's computer, and it's not really private unless you implement your own key management.
If Cook were truly about privacy, Apple wouldn't be deprecating OS X Server -- i.e. support for local storage in corporate environments. They'd be building Mac OS to encrypt by default, but building their machines to allow easily upgraded LOCAL storage, for those that don't trust the cloud. They'd be including more robust local sync options in iOS devices.
Walled garden is a prison, not privacy. And the business model that Steve Jobs pioneered with iOS is a big part of the reason for loss of privacy today. Apple's attitude is paternalistic and condescending -- either trust us or go sod off.