Apple CEO Tim Cook wants political attention for data privacy

Tim Cook has called on American politicians to pass legislation on data privacy. The Apple boss says the time is right for federal legislation, because large tech companies themselves do not pay enough attention to data privacy.

Cook made his statements in an interview with ABC News. In it, he says that consumers are rightly skeptical about the data collection behavior of large technology companies. According to the Apple CEO, the collection of personal data has gotten out of hand in recent years and consumers have too little control over their personal data in the services they use.

Politicians should act and pass legislation to better protect consumers’ personal data. The legislation should give consumers more insight into what data has been collected from them, and more control over its modification or deletion. Cook calls on US politicians to draft a data privacy law and implement it nationwide.

Cook also spoke out about Facebook, which has come under frequent fire in recent times for privacy concerns. The CEO does not believe that splitting Facebook is a solution, as it is not clear which problem this will solve. He argues that more attention should be paid to the data that the social networking site collects, and the control that users have over their own data.