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Apple's Tim Cook Makes Blistering Attack on the 'Data Industrial Complex' (techcrunch.com)
Apple's CEO Tim Cook has joined the chorus of voices warning that data itself is being weaponized against people and societies -- arguing that the trade in digital data has exploded into a "data industrial complex." From a report: Cook did not namecheck the adtech elephants in the room: Google, Facebook and other background data brokers that profit from privacy-hostile business models. But his target was clear. "Our own information -- from the everyday to the deeply personal -- is being weaponized against us with military efficiency," warned Cook. "These scraps of data, each one harmless enough on its own, are carefully assembled, synthesized, traded and sold. Taken to the extreme this process creates an enduring digital profile and lets companies know you better than you may know yourself. Your profile is a bunch of algorithms that serve up increasingly extreme content, pounding our harmless preferences into harm. We shouldn't sugarcoat the consequences. This is surveillance," he added. In a series of tweets, Cook added: It was an honor to be invited to ICDPPC 2018 in Brussels this morning. I'd like to share a bit of what I said to this gathering of privacy regulators from around the world. It all boils down to a fundamental question: What kind of world do we want to live in? GDPR has shown us all that good policy and political will can come together to protect the rights of everyone. We believe that privacy is a fundamental human right. No matter what country you live in, that right should be protected in keeping with four essential principles.
First, companies should challenge themselves to de-identify customer data or not collect that data in the first place. Second, users should always know what data is being collected from them and what it's being collected for. This is the only way to empower users to decide what collection is legitimate and what isn't. Anything less is a sham. Third, companies should recognize that data belongs to users and we should make it easy for people to get a copy of their personal data, as well as correct and delete it. And fourth, everyone has a right to the security of their data. Security is at the heart of all data privacy and privacy rights. Technology is capable of doing great things. But it doesn't want to do great things. It doesn't want anything. That part takes all of us. We are optimistic about technology's awesome potential for good -- but we know that it won't happen on its own.
First, companies should challenge themselves to de-identify customer data or not collect that data in the first place. Second, users should always know what data is being collected from them and what it's being collected for. This is the only way to empower users to decide what collection is legitimate and what isn't. Anything less is a sham. Third, companies should recognize that data belongs to users and we should make it easy for people to get a copy of their personal data, as well as correct and delete it. And fourth, everyone has a right to the security of their data. Security is at the heart of all data privacy and privacy rights. Technology is capable of doing great things. But it doesn't want to do great things. It doesn't want anything. That part takes all of us. We are optimistic about technology's awesome potential for good -- but we know that it won't happen on its own.
Apple is the only one taking privacy at all seriously.
Even for determining how to make Maps better, Apple has said they don't sample whole routes, just fragments of routes to see how Maps is performing...
They also do things like keep Face and Touch ID all local on the device, nothing goes to Apple.
So once again, just what do you claim they are mining?
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
10 Troll posts . . . that have no clue.
1) At very least, Apple is beating the drum, everyone else is saying don't worry
2) Apple has gone on record FOR protecting users, putting themselves in a spot where, if it's ever found out that they're lying, NO one will trust them
3) The comment about China? Let's see some sources that say what's provided to the government, and whether it's the carriers or Apple; don't forget, the biggest provider is owned by the government . . .
Get out of your basements, get some sun, it's 2018
While we obviously can't know for sure, there so far hasn't been any evidence that Apple does this. They do collect data with respect to services that they specifically provide that requires them to use such data (eg: Siri, maps, etc) but I've read past reports from people who have wiresharked the traffic coming out of their iDevices and Apple was true to their word. iDevices did not send unnecessary data to Apple.
Nor is there evidence that they buy up data from elsewhere like Facebook or Google does.
They have positioned themselves as data privacy champions. If they were exposed as data miners of the likes of Google or Facebook, don't you think that exposing that hypocrisy would be massive news? I know I haven't seen any such news yet. Please feel free to link such news stories in case I simply missed them.
Google, Facebook and other background data brokers that profit from privacy-hostile business models
It's worth noting that Apple sells thick-client product that are deeply threatened by thin-client cloud-based solutions like the products Google is selling. When you can buy a Chromebook for $250 that lasts for a decade, convincing people to drop $2000 on a Macbook becomes a much harder sell.
If you're Cook, your primary way to attack this market erosion is to seed doubt about data in the cloud.
Yeah he's just mad Apple's not a part of it. At the end of they day the data is where the money is and Apple's devices are just windows to data (Well, services. Services are just applied data).
I'm no fan of Apple for a lot of things, but this is just a dumb statement. Apple is literally the most valuable company on the planet as of this posting at over 925 billion dollars. That is 150 billion dollars more than the number 2 company Amazon and 175 billion over Alphabet which is arguably the largest data mining company of them all. I don't think he is mad that they are not getting much of a slice of that pie because if he were then they wouldn't be making these statements constantly and you would suddenly see lots more data collection going on from their side.
They are doing a lot of things that I dislike, but data privacy is not one of them. They could improve more for sure, but they are so far ahead of almost all the other companies it is pathetic.
Some tech economists crunched numbers and figured out that if you tried to self-host all of the services Google provides you for free, it would cost about 20K/yr
Google is pretty much giving you 20k in services in exchange for slurping data off of your online activities and showing you ads and that gives you an idea about the money at stake here.
In reply to this, I seriously scoff at that figure. Google provides a SHITLOAD of services and all, but only the most die-hard of Google fans come close to using all of them. Most of them also have alternatives available in the market that don't require you to give away your data too. That figure is highly suspect even if someone were using all their services. Maybe if you bought everything (servers, licenses to run them, etc.) and did all the work yourself it might come close, but no one is going to do that and it defeats the purpose specialist services in our economy anyway. Lets break down some of the major services Google offers, look at their costs, alternatives etc. to get a better picture:
Apple loves to control what its users do with its products, but the moment there is something like data that it can't control, they complain? I know that people love to hate various companies, from Microsoft to Facebook to Google, but NONE of them are as bad as Apple when it comes to trying to control the users.
iOS could collect a whole lot more data about users--like Android does--but Apple chooses not to collect the data. Google/Android collects data on you even when you tell it not to:
* https://qz.com/1131515/google-collects-android-users-locations-even-when-location-services-are-disabled/