It’s been a big day in the land of privacy for Apple, but amidst the murmurings of privacy announcements from a Cupertino-based company, the juiciest was probably a speech by CEO Tim Cook at CPDP 2021. In a nearly 15-minute opening keynote, Cook took several, savory potshots at a certain social media company, who were gearing up to file an antitrust suit against Apple.
For most of the speech, Cook highlights various things Apple does to protect the personal data of its users, including iOS 14. The “Privacy Nutrition Label” feature. He also spends a significant amount of time wondering if we, as a society, are lost? “Freedom to be human” recognizing that if we want to use new technologies, we must remove our personal data to do so. Then, towards the end of the Keynote, Cook leaves loose.
If a business is built on misleading users, on data exploitation, on alternatives that are not an option, then it is not worthy of our praise. It is worthy of improvement. We should not look away from the big picture brought by the algorithm and the theories of furious disintegration and conspiracy. We can no longer turn a blind eye to a theory of technology that says that all engagement is good engagement. As best as possible, and with the goal of collecting as much data as possible. Many are still asking the question “how far can we get?” When they get “What are the results?”
What are the consequences of prioritizing conspiracy theories and violent harassment due to high rates of engagement? What are the consequences of not only tolerating but rewarding material that reduces public confidence in life-saving vaccination? Why do thousands of users need to see results by joining extremist groups and then maintaining an algorithm that recommends even more? It is a long time to stop professing this view, not of polarization, of lost trust, and of course, of violence.
Tim, it’s fine. We all know that you are trying not to name, but we do not want to. You are obviously pulling Facebook.
This comes less than a day after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg fired his own shots at Apple’s privacy push during yesterday’s earnings call. Zuckerberg said referring to Apple’s Beef with Epic Games, “Apple has every kind of incentive to use our platform status to see how our apps and other apps work, which they regularly use in their Do for choice. ” “Apple may say they are doing this to help people, but the moves clearly track their competitive interests.”
Cook clearly had his own views, though he was not prepared as a direct answer to Zuckerberg’s statements. (Still, we know what they are like.)
“The technology does not require large amounts of personal data stitched together across dozens of websites and apps to be successful. Advertising existed and flourished for decades without it, ”Cook said. “And we are here today because the path of least resistance is rarely the path of knowledge.”
This is great, but both Zuckerberg and Cook have valid points. And while both companies have placed their stand on the moral high ground, Apple and Facebook are both guilty of some shy, murderous behavior. In this case, the issue is that Facebook clearly feels threatened by the privacy nutrition label. Today, Apple announced that apps starting in Spring 2021 would not be able to get ad tracking data without the user’s permission – and it’s unnecessary to say that Facebook throws an entire wrench into the entire business model.
This is also not the first time that Cook has responded to Facebook’s very public displeasure with Apple’s new privacy update. Last month, Facebook took out full-page ads for two days in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post, calling the case “for little people” for Apple “standing up against …” against data privacy. To which Cook responded to Sassy’s tweet.
Today, according to Cook’s speech, moral should be the kind of technique that “helps you sleep, doesn’t set you up” and “gives you just one more time to refresh, make or write, or have room to learn.” He explicitly talked about plugging in the Apple Watch when describing the “it goes away in the background” technique, but did you “get help when your heartbeat accelerates or when you feel bad” We do”. It is a noble thought, even as millions of people destroy our minds every night, doomscrolling through Twitter on our iPhones.
Is the fragrance of hypocrisy between Zuckerberg and Cook a thin (and sometimes not-so-thin) insult inflicted upon each other? Oh yeah Is it also incredibly entertaining to watch? Whoop Please, pass the popcorn.