Apple CEO Tim Cook advocates for privacy in recent TIME Op-Ed

Photo by Gadjo Cardenas SevillaBy Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Today's leading technology companies and their CEO's look to provide leadership not just in the technology space but also in various moral and ethical areas. Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella is pushing ethics in AI and Machine Learning as guiding principles for the future.

Apple and its CEO Tim Cook have been loudly beating the drum in protection of user privacy which has culminated in an Op-Ed Apple took out on Time magazine with Cook weighing in on user's right to privacy and the many steps that government and regulation can protect these rights.

Apple takes shots at competitors harvesting user data in a 13-story billboard in Las Vegas during CES 2019

The Op-Ed by Cook is titled "You Deserve Privacy Online, Here's How You Could Actually Get it," calls on the US Congress to pass a federal privacy legislation to help protect consumers from companies who are harvesting their information for profit. You can read it here.

"Consumers shouldn’t have to tolerate another year of companies irresponsibly amassing huge user profiles, data breaches that seem out of control and the vanishing ability to control our own digital lives." States Cook in his article.

The Apple CEO goes further and exposes realities about people's privacy that most consumers are completely unaware of.

"One of the biggest challenges in protecting privacy is that many of the violations are invisible. For example, you might have bought a product from an online retailer—something most of us have done. But what the retailer doesn’t tell you is that it then turned around and sold or transferred information about your purchase to a “data broker”—a company that exists purely to collect your information, package it and sell it to yet another buyer."

Apple has access to millions of user bank and credit card information thanks to services like iTunes, Apple Pay and Apple Music. It serves a bridge for massive interpersonal communications through Messages, Facetime and email services. Yet, the company has managed to provide these services without compromising user privacy.

Apple and its services take the extra step to strip out user informaton and sensitive data. Taking only the necessary information and keeping most of the vital ID and personal data encrypted on people's devices. Even Apple Maps, which needs to know location information in order to estimate distance and travel time, carefully routs this information in various stages so it cannot be tracked.

It's good to see someone like Tim Cook focusing on issues that affect everyone and using his influence and voice not just to decry a widespread problem, but also offer steps that can mitigate the issue. Whether or not US Congress heeds his concerns remains to be seen.