Apple CEO Tim Cook: Data merchant regulators are needed

Clearing houses are needed that certify data trading companies and keep track of all transactions involving personal data. Apple CEO Tim Cook said this in an article in Time magazine. The US FTC should set up that office.

Such a clearing house can keep track of all transactions of online private data and give consumers access to it, says Cook in the article. According to him, this is necessary, because the trade in private data now takes place out of sight of consumers, governments and regulators. A clearing house can solve that, Cook thinks.

The Apple leader also advocates for US privacy legislation. Europe has the GDPR and the E-Privacy Regulation is coming, but the United States has no such legislation.

Both things are necessary to make good technology, Cook believes. “Technology has the potential to change the world for the better, but it can never be done without the full confidence of the people who use it.”

In recent years, Apple has been more committed to protecting privacy. For example, it collects anonymized data for the artificial intelligence of its digital assistant Siri and sometimes refuses public requests to open the software of iPhones in favor of detection.