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Tony Romm
Editor covering technology policy
Apple CEO Tim Cook on Wednesday warned the world's most powerful regulators that the bad practices of some tech companies in terms of privacy protection, the evils of social media and the world's most powerful companies. Erosion of trust in one's own sector threatened to undermine "the impressive potential of technology" and climate change.
In a harsh criticism of Silicon Valley – pronounced from the well of the European Parliament in Brussels – Cook first pointed out that he remained optimistic that "new technologies are revolutionizing the biggest joint projects of humanity ".
But the Apple executive has expressed concern over the conflictual political rhetoric that is proliferating on social media platforms and rogue actors and governments who exploit algorithms to "deepen divisions, incite violence, and even undermine our security." common vision of what is true and what is wrong. "
He also lamented the emergence of an "industrial data complex" – a piece about the critics of 1960s defense contractors – that allows companies to "get to know you better than you know-" even". Cook has not mentioned Facebook, Google or any other company. name.
Mr. Cook emphasized that privacy is a "basic human right". He congratulated the European Union for putting in place strict rules on data protection.
"Now, more than ever – as heads of government, business decision-makers and citizens – we must ask ourselves a fundamental question: what kind of world do we want to live in?", He said.
For Cook, Wednesday's speech in Brussels marked his highest criticism so far of his peers in Silicon Valley. Ultimately, this could serve to encourage policymakers and oversight bodies in Europe and around the world to further tackle the US technology giants.
Armed with its new data protection rules, the EU has already forced businesses, including Facebook, to give users more choice in using their data – or fines of up to 4% of their total revenues.
The US has also questioned the company footprints of some of the biggest tech companies. The group's chief competition officer, Margrethe Vestager, imposed his latest fine on Google in July. Last month, she announced a survey on the use of data by Amazon. (Jeffrey P. Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, owns The Washington Post.)
Apple has felt the sting of the US on its tax practices. The block slapped the iPhone maker with a $ 15 billion bill in 2016, saying it had received unfair tax incentives from Ireland. Apple has paid but remains attractive.
The question was looming over Cook this week. He met Tuesday with French President Emmanuel Macron, who urged his US president counterparts to force tech giants to pay higher taxes. Cook also plans to meet with Frans Timmermans, the EU's first vice president, on Thursday, according to his public schedule.
Mr. Cook has long talked openly about privacy because he's trying to separate Apple from its competitors, such as Google, who rely on the exploitation of personal information from Internet users to offer them privacy. targeted advertisements. In his speech on Wednesday, Cook commended the new US rules as a sign that "good politics and political will can be put together to protect the rights of all of us".
"Now, there are those who would prefer that I did not say all that," Cook said of his call for US rules. "Some people oppose any form of privacy legislation. Others will support reform in public, then resist and undermine it behind closed doors. He added, "But this notion is not just wrong, it is destructive. "
Cook began adopting a tougher attitude after a series of incidents that rocked Facebook earlier this year. This includes the entanglement of the social giant with a political consulting firm, Cambridge Analytica, which misread the data of 87 million users of the site.
"The truth is that we could make a lot of money if we monetized our customer – if our customer was our product. We chose not to do it, "Cook said of the March controversy. Asked about how he would have handled the incident, Apple's head responded: "I would not be in this situation."
Leaders of these tech giants – Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive of Facebook, and Sundar Pichai, chief executive of Google – are expected to announce their own addresses, by video, next Wednesday at the conference in Brussels.
Quentin Ariès contributed to this report from Brussels.
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