Apple CEO Tim Cook says he doesn’t want his customers’ data, he just wants to sell them great products.
In an open letter to customers on the new privacy section of Apple’s website, Cook outlined exactly how Apple thinks about privacy, while taking a couple shots at the competition.
Pointing to the way that companies like Google and Facebook mine data and sell it to advertisers, Cook says Apple keeps the focus on its products.
“We don’t build a profile based on your email content or web browsing habits to sell to advertisers,” Cook Wrote. “We don’t “monetize” the information you store on your iPhone or in iCloud. And we don’t read your email or your messages to get information to market to you. Our software and services are designed to make our devices better. Plain and simple.”
The letter comes on the day Apple released iOS 8 and a day before Apple’s new iPhones hit retail stores and in the wake of the recent theft of celebrity photos from Apple’s iCloud.
Cook referenced Apple’s iAd mobile advertising service, which he said “doesn’t get data from Health and HomeKit, Maps, Siri, iMessage, your call history, or any iCloud service like Contacts or Mail, and you can always just opt out altogether.”
He also stressed that Apple never cooperated with any government agencies to create backdoors into its products.
“I want to be absolutely clear that we have never worked with any government agency from any country to create a backdoor in any of our products or services,” Cook said. “We have also never allowed access to our servers. And we never will.”
Apple says it’s publishing its new website to create transparency. The privacy website will explain how its handles users’ personal information, what it does and doesn’t collect, and why.
“We’re going to make sure you get updates here about privacy at Apple at least once a year and whenever there are significant changes to our policies,” Cook Said.
Filed Under: Devices
