Apple CEO Tim Cook came out swinging in favour of tougher data privacy laws in the United States and in the rest of the world. Cook even recommended the adoption of privacy rules similar to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) adopted by the European Union last May.
Cook aimed his shots at Google and Facebook whose revenue structure demands the collection and processing of personal data from billions of internet users around the world.
Luke Dormehl elaborates on Cook’s vision in this report published in Cult of Mac:
In a speech in Brussels on Wednesday (October 24), Cook said that it is “time for the rest of the world” to follow a similar framework which protects the personal information of users. “We are in support of a comprehensive federal privacy law in the U.S.,” he told delegates at the European Parliament.
Cook went on to describe the threat of tech giants which, “know you better than you know yourselves” due to their data mining. “This is surveillance, and these stock piles of personal data only enrich the companies that collect them,” he said. “This should make us uncomfortable and unsettle us.”
Under GDPR laws, companies which are found to be in violation of the rules can be fined as much as 20 million euros ($22.8 million) or 4 percent of their annual revenue.
