Apple CEO Tim Cook on Friday sent a letter to a group of U.S. lawmakers asking them to pass federal privacy legislation.
“We strongly urge you to advance comprehensive privacy legislation as soon as possible, and we stand ready to assist in this process in the days ahead,” read the letter, which was sent to a group of law makers in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives working on the legislation.
MacDailyNews Take: Cook full letter, verbatim:
June 10, 2022
The Honorable Maria Cantwell, Chair
The Honorable Roger Wicker, Ranking Member
U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 254 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
The Honorable Frank Pallone, Chair
The Honorable Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Ranking Member U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce
2125 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Chairs Cantwell and Pallone and Ranking Members Wicker and McMorris Rodgers:
Thank you for your ongoing work on privacy legislation. Apple continues to support efforts at the federal level to establish strong privacy protections for consumers, and we are encouraged by the draft proposals your offices have produced.
We recognize that there are outstanding issues to be resolved, but the areas of agreement appear to far outweigh the differences. Your drafts would provide substantial protections for consumers, and we write to offer our strong support towards achieving this shared goal. With your work, coupled with President Biden’s call to better protect children’s privacy, it appears Americans are closer than ever to obtaining meaningful privacy protections.
At Apple, we believe privacy is a fundamental human right. It is why we have consistently advocated for comprehensive privacy legislation and contributed to the process whenever possible. It is also why we’ve always built products and features that protect users and their information by default. We do this by minimizing the data we collect, processing as much data as possible on a user’s device, giving users transparency as to what data is collected and control as to how it is used, and building robust systems to protect user data across all our products and services.
While Apple will continue to innovate and develop new ways to protect user data, only Congress can provide strong privacy protections for all Americans. The continued absence of this important legislation will unfortunately perpetuate a patchwork approach to privacy rights that leaves too many without the rigorous standards we hope to see as a result of your hard work.
We strongly urge you to advance comprehensive privacy legislation as soon as possible, and we stand ready to assist in this process in the days ahead.
Sincerely,
Tim Cook CEO, Apple
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Smh. Maria Can’t-Do-Well is one of the worst grifters in the Senate. I’m from Washington and aside from the “Summer of Love” crowd, has a very poor reputation & record. I’m embarrassed to say she represents my State
Government is all for privacy, as long as they can have a key to the back door!
Good luck on that Tim.
“At Apple, we believe privacy is a fundamental human right.”
Maybe it’s just me and my weak mind, but the China-thing makes me unable to swallow the statement above.
It’s not unlike the days of the mob keeping your city operating “smoothly,” when as the mayor of that city, you hold as a fundamental principle, law and order…while knowing full well the part Mugsie plays in your governing.
You are correct, it’s you.
Apple follows the laws in nations it operates. Like every single US headquartered corporation, it operates in non democratic countries to maximize profit. Name any of those other corporations that do a better job protecting user privacy. If you used your noggin, you would discover it’s the corrupt crony capitalist system that enables modern economic feudalism. The rich write the rules and their own exemptions. Why single out Apple? You might as well blame Mother Theresa for the existence of orphanages while you’re castigating blame around.
If you don’t like the fact that corporations have so much power and so little scruples, you would elect representatives to better regulate and tax all the companies that have always screwed the average citizen. It’s no coincidence that the biggest most powerful companies are in the US, where it is easy to buy and own a political party. Might we suggest reviewing what your political party actually does instead of what your favorite TV talking head is paid to claim?
Amen, brother!
Does this include photo privacy on my iPhone no scanning for kiddie porn?…
No, Goeb, Apple isn’t going to support your dirty little addiction. You may have to join 8chan in the Philippines to continue your activities.
Of course if a company wants you to unlock your phone with their facial recognition and has always tracked your location by default and has long scanned your photos to tag identities … it probably already has a sizeable dossier on you. Big tech is happy to track everything you do, why wouldn’t they? Americans have been groomed to be stupid lazy consumers. They give up all their data privacy for a tiny bit of convenience and then they wonder what a handful of silicon valley billionaires can wield so much power. Duh. You sold out years ago. You get the digital entertainment, they get everything else.
“ No, Goeb, Apple isn’t going to support your dirty little addiction.”
He or she with the dirty mind do not project onto me. MDN and the majority around here are not OK with Apple scanning our phones and invading our privacy for any reason. Got it, brainless?…