Page 24 - Aruba Today

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Friday 26 OctOber 2018
Apple CEO backs privacy laws, warns data being 'weaponized'

By KELVIN CHAN ity" to safeguard personal
AP Business Writer information but added that
BRUSSELS (AP) — The head "the past year has shown
of Apple on Wednesday we have a lot more work to
endorsed tough privacy do," referring to a big data
laws for both Europe and breach and the scandal
the U.S. and renewed the over the misuse of data by
technology giant's commit- political consultancy Cam-
ment to protecting person- bridge Analytica.
al data, which he warned He also said the company
was being "weaponized" is investing in measures to
against users. beef up protection, includ-
Speaking at an internation- ing building a new tool to
al conference on data pri- let users clear their brows-
vacy, Apple CEO Tim Cook ing activity and deploy-
applauded European ing artificial intelligence to
Union authorities for bring- detect fake accounts and
ing in a strict new data pri- take down extremist con-
vacy law in May and said tent.
the iPhone maker supports They both said they sup-
a U.S. federal privacy law . ported regulation, with
Cook's speech, along with Pichai noting Google re-
video comments from cently proposed a legisla-
Google and Facebook top tive framework that would
bosses, in the European build on GDPR and extend
Union's home base in Brus- many of its principles to us-
sels, underscores how the ers globally.
U.S. tech giants are jostling The International Confer-
to curry favor in the region ence of Data Protection
as regulators tighten their and Privacy Commissioners
scrutiny. , held in a different city ev-
Data protection has be- ery year, normally attracts
come a major political issue little attention but its Brus-
worldwide, and European sels venue this year takes
regulators have led the on symbolic meaning as
charge in setting new rules EU officials ratchet up their
for the big internet compa- tech regulation.
nies. The EU's new General The 28-nation EU took on
Data Protection Regula- global leadership of the
tion, or GDPR, requires issue when it launched
companies to change the GDPR. The new rules re-
way they do business in the quire companies to justify
region, and a number of the collection and use of
headline-grabbing data Apple CEO Tim Cook holds up an iPhone as he speaks during a data privacy conference at the personal data gleaned
breaches have raised pub- European Parliament in Brussels, Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2018. from phones, apps and vis-
lic awareness of the issue. Associated Press ited websites.
"In many jurisdictions, reg- They must also give EU users
ulators are asking tough humanity is at risk of being the companies that collect pearance "is going to have the ability to access and
questions. It is time for rest overshadowed by the harm them," he said. "This should good currency," with offi- delete data, and to object
of the world, including my it can cause by deepen- make us very uncomfort- cials, he added. to data use.
home country, to follow ing division and spreading able. It should unsettle us." His speech comes a week GDPR also allows for big
your lead," Cook said. false information. He said Cook's appearance was after Apple unveiled ex- fines benchmarked to rev-
"We at Apple are in full sup- the trade in personal infor- one-up on his tech rivals panded privacy protection enue, which for big tech
port of a comprehensive mation "has exploded into and showed off his compa- measures for people in the companies could amount
federal privacy law in the a data industrial complex." ny's credentials in data pri- U.S., Canada, Australia and to billions of dollars.
United States," he said, to "Our own information, from vacy, which has become a New Zealand, including al- In the first big test of the
applause from hundreds of the everyday to the deeply weak point for both Face- lowing them to download new rules, Ireland's data
privacy officials from more personal, is being weap- book and Google. That is all personal data held by protection commission,
than 70 countries. onized against us with mili- facilitated also by the fact Apple. European users al- which is a lead author-
In the U.S., California is mov- tary efficiency," he said. that Apple makes most of ready had access to this ity for Europe as many big
ing to put in regulations Scraps of personal data its money by selling hard- feature after GDPR took tech firms are based in the
similar to the EU's strict rules are collected for digital ware like iPhones instead of effect. Apple plans to ex- country, is investigating
by 2020 and other states profiles that let businesses ads based on user data. pand it worldwide. Facebook's data breach,
are mulling more aggres- know users better than they "With the spotlight shining Facebook CEO Mark Zuck- which let hackers access 3
sive laws. That's rattled the know themselves and al- as directly as it is, Apple erberg and Google head million EU accounts.
big tech companies, which low companies to offer us- have the opportunity to Sundar Pichai sent brief vid- Google, meanwhile, shut
are pushing for a federal ers "increasingly extreme show that they are the eo remarks to the annual down its Plus social network
law that would treat them content" that hardens their leading player and they meeting of global data pri- this month after revealing it
more leniently. convictions, Cook said. are taking up the mantle," vacy chiefs. had a flaw that could have
Cook warned that tech- "This is surveillance. And said Ben Robson, a lawyer Zuckerberg said the social exposed personal informa-
nology's promise to drive these stockpiles of personal at Oury Clark specializing network takes seriously its tion of up to half a million
breakthroughs that benefit data serve only to enrich in data privacy. Cook's ap- "basic ethical responsibil- people.q