Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke at a dinner in Washington, DC, last night, at an event hosted by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC). He talked of how Google, Facebook and Yahoo use private information to throw advertising at consumers, pointedly saying that “erosion of privacy represents a threat to the American way of life”.

You should be aware that Cook is very against “online services that ask you to trade highly personal data for convenience” (even though Apple does it via iAds – you have the option to opt out though).

Our privacy is being attacked on multiple fronts. I’m speaking to you from Silicon Valley, where some of the most prominent and successful companies have built their businesses by lulling their customers into complacency about their personal information. They’re gobbling up everything they can learn about you and trying to monetize it. We think that’s wrong. And it’s not the kind of company that Apple wants to be.

Oh, yes, he had more to say…

You might like these so-called free services, but we don’t think they’re worth having your email or your search history or now even your family photos data-mined and sold off for God knows what advertising purpose. And we think someday, customers will see this for what it is.

It’s a hard game out there for tech companies, and people are catching onto what’s happening. I ordered something online a few weeks ago and now I see adverts for the product on every internet page I visit. The problem with this is that I already have the product, so why is the internet incessantly advertising it to me? Silly.

Tim also spoke about the “back door” that law enforcement wants, essentially something that would “enable authorities to bypass encryption on user data”.

EPIC honoured him as a “champion of freedom” for his leadership at Apple.

Thank goodness someone is speaking for the masses…

[Source: The Verge]