Tim Cook thinks we all deserve privacy online.
In an article penned by the Apple CEO Thursday in Time, he attempts to explain how we can get it.
“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,” Cook said.
Along with others notables, Cook is calling on Congress to pass federal privacy legislation which would include four key principals: the right to have personal data minimized, the right to know what data is being collected and why, the right to access and delete that data, and the right to data security.
As the head of one of the world’s most valuable companies, Cook feels that federal privacy legislation, similar to the GDPR instituted in the EU, would not only put consumers in control of their data, it would also help highlight bad actors that are currently using user’s data in inappropriate ways.
“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,” Cook writes. “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.”
