Tech should select sides in Apple-Fb privateness combat

The lines have been drawn. Tech executives can no longer sit on the sidelines and pretend they don’t have a leadership role on the tech issue of our time: privacy and the consequences of continual exploitation of users for financial gain.

Apple CEO Tim Cook recorded the operations on January 28th during his speech at the opening of the conference for computers, data protection and data protection of the European Union in Brussels.

“If a company is based on misleading users, on data usage, and on decisions that are not decisions at all, then it doesn’t deserve our praise. It deserves reform. We shouldn’t look away from the bigger picture, ”said Cook.

“In a moment of rampant disinformation and conspiracy theories being juiced up by algorithms, we can no longer turn a blind eye to a technology theory that says that every engagement is a good engagement – the longer the better – and all with the goal of so collect as much data as possible as possible. “

Cook didn’t mention Facebook or its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, by name. But his goal was clear when he said: “A social dilemma must not become a social catastrophe.” It was a direct reference to the 2020 Netflix documentary “The Social Dilemma” which examined the dangerous effects of online social networking.

For nearly a decade, we’ve been warning tech titans that a reckoning day is upon us when Americans’ confidence in the industry continues to weaken after scandals and missteps.

That day came on January 6th when rioters broke through the Capitol. President Donald Trump ignited the violence, but social media sites were guilty of perpetuating the lies and misinformation that brought the protesters together.

Technical executives need to engage Congress and establish federal data protection and data protection regulations that end “rampant disinformation and conspiracy theories being juiced up by algorithms”.

Apple’s demand for data protection is selfish in that its latest operating system includes an app Transparency Tracker that puts Facebook directly in its crosshairs. But Cook is spot on when it comes to privacy and data processing.

The tech industry has looked the other way for too long when Silicon Valley’s most famous companies, especially Facebook and Google, exploited customers and devoured billions in revenue. It’s a recipe for short-term winds and long-term disasters that would terrify valley legends like Bill Hewlett and David Packard.

The region is best served when technology leaders and entrepreneurs follow Cook’s demand that “the future belongs to the innovations that make our lives better, more fulfilling and more humane”.

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