Apple’s Empty Grandstanding About Privacy

Posted February 6, 2019

External Article: The Atlantic

Ian Bogost, a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology School of Literature, Media, and Communication, recently wrote an article entitled “Apple’s Empty Grandstanding About Privacy” for The Atlantic.

Here's an excerpt:

“We at Apple believe that privacy is a fundamental human right,” Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, said in a privacy-conference keynote last year in Brussels. “But we also recognize that not everyone sees things as we do.” Cook was making an impassioned plea to end the technology industry’s collection and sale of user data. “This is surveillance,” he continued. “And these stockpiles of personal data serve only to enrich the companies that collect them.” Cook called for a comprehensive U.S. data-privacy law focused on minimizing data collection, securing that data, and informing users about its nature and use.

Read the full story here. Portions of his article were also quoted in a USA Today article entitled “What if Apple Ran Social Media and Facebook?”

The School of Literature, Media, and Communication is a unit of the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.