Apple CEO Tim Cook was honored at the EPIC’s Champions of Freedom event in Washington earlier this week for his leadership in the tech industry.
However, he took that time to highlight privacy and encryption practices. His speech was biting and clawing at Facebook, Google and the national government. In regards to Google, Cook attacked its recently launched photo service.
“Like many of you, we at Apple reject the idea that our customers should have to make trade-offs between privacy and security. We can and we must provide both in equal measure. We believe that people have a fundamental right to privacy. The American people demand it; the constitution demands it; morality demands it,” Cook opened.
Cook went on to discuss the ways companies hijack personal information in order to create personalized ads and make money from your personal details.
“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.”
According to Matthew Panzarino for Techcrunch.com, “this marked the first time that EPIC, a nonprofit research center in Washington focused on emerging privacy and civil liberties issues, has given the honor to a person from the business world. The hosts of the event included cryptographer Bruce Schneier, EPIC president Marc Rotenberg, lobbyist Hilary Rosen and Stanford lecturer in law Chip Pitts.”
Many would say that Cook has blood on his hands. His company had a major iCloud hacking fiasco late last year where many celebrity nude photos were released. Also, Apple has recently launched Google Photos on its iOS.
However, the speech was necessary.