The time is now to have a federal privacy bill, says Tim Cook

Congress has been struggling for years to pass a federal data privacy law, but on Friday, lawmakers gained an unexpected ally in Apple CEO Tim Cook.

In an interview with ABC News, the executive said big tech companies haven’t corrected their mistakes, and it’s time for the government to step in — ideally with a federal privacy bill. “I think we can all admit that when you’ve tried to do something and companies haven’t self policed, that it’s time to have rigorous regulation,” he explained, “and I think we’ve passed that time.”

But while many are focused on splitting up companies like Facebook into separate, smaller entities, Cook also said regulators are too focused on antitrust action and not focused enough on data privacy. Breaking up...

Continue reading…