Tim Cook Op-Ed for Time Magazine: ‘In 2019, It’s Time to Stand Up for the Right to Privacy’

Apple CEO Tim Cook has written an op-ed for Time Magazine, calling on Congress to pass comprehensive federal privacy legislation in the United States. He also threw down a challenge to other companies to either strip identifying information from their customer data or totally avoid collecting the data the first place.

Cook’s op-ed comes coincides with U.S. Senator Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) introduction of the American Data Dissemination Act, which is legislation that would require the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to “provide a national consumer data privacy law that protects both consumers and the innovative capabilities of the internet economy. ”

Rubio’s legislation would do the following:

• Not later than 180 days after enactment of the ADD Act, the FTC is required to submit detailed recommendations for privacy requirements that Congress can impose on covered providers. These requirements would be substantially similar to the requirements applicable to agencies under the Privacy Act of 1974.
• Not earlier than one year after the date on which the Commission has submitted detailed recommendations (18 months after enactment), the FTC will publish and submit to the appropriate committees of Congress proposed regulations to impose privacy requirements on covered providers that are substantially similar to the requirements applicable to agencies under the Privacy Act of 1974.
• To ensure Congress acts in a timely manner, if the Congress fails to enact a law based on the recommendations provided by the date that is two years after enactment of this bill, the FTC would promulgate a final rule, not later than 27 months after the date of enactment to impose privacy requirements based on the narrow, congressionally mandated course of action created through this bill.

In his op-ed piece, Cook said “data broker” firms (those that collect, package, and sell personal information) should be required to register with the FTC and provide transparency information to the agency, and that consumers should have the ability to easily view and delete that information if they so desire.

Let’s be clear: you never signed up for that. We think every user should have the chance to say, “Wait a minute. That’s my information that you’re selling, and I didn’t consent.”

Cook’s full op-ed reads as follows:

In 2019, it’s time to stand up for the right to privacy – yours, mine, all of ours. Consumers shouldn’t have to tolerate another year of companies irresponsibly amassing huge user profiles, data breaches that seem out of control and the vanishing ability to control our own digital lives. 

This problem is solvable – it isn’t too big, too challenging or too late. Innovation, breakthrough ideas and great features can go hand in hand with user privacy – and they must. Realizing technology’s potential ­depends on it. 

That’s why I and others are calling on the U.S. Congress to pass comprehensive federal privacy ­legislation – a landmark package of reforms that protect and empower the consumer. Last year, before a global body of privacy regulators, I laid out four principles that I believe should guide legislation: 

First, the right to have personal data minimized. Companies should challenge themselves to strip identifying information from customer data or avoid collecting it in the first place. Second, the right to ­knowledge – to know what data is being collected and why. Third, the right to access. Companies should make it easy for you to access, correct and delete your personal data. And fourth, the right to data security, without which trust is impossible. 

But laws alone aren’t enough to ensure that individuals can make use of their privacy rights. We also need to give people tools that they can use to take action. To that end, here’s an idea that could make a real difference. 

One of the biggest challenges in protecting privacy is that many of the violations are invisible. For example, you might have bought a product from an online ­retailer – ­something most of us have done. But what the retailer doesn’t tell you is that it then turned around and sold or transferred information about your purchase to a “data broker” – a company that exists purely to collect your information, package it, and sell it to yet another buyer. 

The trail disappears before you even know there is a trail. Right now, all of these secondary markets for your information exist in a shadow economy that’s largely ­unchecked – out of sight of consumers, regulators, and lawmakers. 

Let’s be clear: you never signed up for that. We think every user should have the chance to say, “Wait a minute. That’s my information that you’re selling, and I didn’t consent.” 

Meaningful, comprehensive federal privacy legislation should not only aim to put consumers in control of their data, it should also shine a light on actors trafficking in your data behind the scenes. Some state laws are looking to accomplish just that, but right now there is no federal standard protecting Americans from these practices. That’s why we believe the Federal Trade Commission should establish a data-­broker clearinghouse, requiring all data brokers to register, enabling consumers to track the transactions that have bundled and sold their data from place to place, and giving users the power to delete their data on demand, freely, easily and online, once and for all. 

As this debate kicks off, there will be plenty of proposals and competing interests for policymakers to consider. We cannot lose sight of the most important constituency: individuals trying to win back their right to privacy. Technology has the potential to keep changing the world for the better, but it will never achieve that potential without the full faith and confidence of the people who use it.

Cook and Apple have long held that privacy is a “fundamental human right.” The company’s privacy website, says:

Your personal data belongs to you, not others.

Whether you’re taking a photo, asking Siri a question, or getting directions, you can do it knowing that Apple doesn’t gather your personal information to sell to advertisers or other organizations.