The Titans of social media and Internet space travel are hitting a wall. Back when Facebook was Zuckerberg’s college dream no one expected that dream to become a vehicle that helped Russia change the outcome of a presidential election. And when Silicon Valley’s Google search information experiment turned into an obsession that most people can’t live without, no one expected the company to collect personal data on all the people who use Google and sell it like it was their information. Those two companies know more about people from countries all over the world than most people know about themselves. And they use that information to make money. They sell consumer privacy to make a buck.
Tim Cook, the Apple CEO thinks the free market system doesn’t work in the tech company world. By design, tech companies collect data and they are free to use it without government oversight because people sign a disclaimer they never read when they agree to use their services. The Cambridge Analytica debacle shined a light on how free the tech market is. Cook believes that situation proves self-regulation doesn’t work in the online tech world.
Mr. Cook says Apple doesn’t use consumer information to make money. He said consumer information is not one of their products. Apple doesn’t delve into the personal lives of their customers. But Google and Facebook can’t make that claim, according to Cook. Privacy doesn’t exist in their Internet free market. It’s not a civil liberty or a human right because those companies use personal privacy to fuel their bottom line.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg admitted self-regulation doesn’t work when he testified before Congress in 2018. He thinks the government has to step in. But Zuckerberg and other tech executives know regulations hinder growth and make doing business more challenging. But according to Tim Cook, the free market is in out-of-control mode, and the only way to protect consumers is to put regulations in place that protect consumer privacy.
Cook and other tech executives don’t know what those regulations will look like once Congress gets involved. But they know they will have to change part of their business model or face serious fines if they violate government regulations. Some consumers say it’s too late to regulate the tech companies. They have all the information they need to invade the privacy of their customers for years.
