Tim Cook Reveals What Privacy Advocacy Really Is

[SteelCrysis]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/U...7-13-12-19
Hypocrites all. In the case of Apple, remember this that I posted about last July? As for ideologue Larry Downs, no the government cannot simply put you in jail. Google, Facebook, and Twitter can indirectly participate in smearing you as a pedo, you can get tried in the court of public opinion with no due process, and the only lifelong damage you don't suffer is jail time and being on the sex offender registry.

PALO ALTO, California (AP) -- In its fight with the FBI, Apple insists it's defending the privacy and safety of all iPhone users by resisting government calls to help unlock an extremist's iPhone. And now other big tech companies such as Google and Facebook are rallying to Apple's side.

Wait just a minute: Aren't those the same companies that Apple has previously criticized by lobbing veiled accusations that they exploit your personal information - to sell ads - and effectively endanger your privacy?

Some might argue that Apple's allies are hypocrites when it comes to privacy, much like the fraternity brothers in "Animal House" who declared: "He can't do that to our pledges. Only we can do that to our pledges."

But Silicon Valley's view of privacy is more nuanced than that. And Americans historically have worried less about the private sector and more about the government's power to infringe on individual rights.

"The government can put me in jail," said Larry Downs, a scholar at Georgetown University's Center for Business and Public Policy. "Google, Facebook and Twitter cannot."
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The same companies objected loudly after former government contractor Edward Snowden revealed the scope of National Security Agency surveillance programs that collected user data and even tapped their networks without their knowledge. The companies have gone to court and Congress to limit that kind of government data-gathering, while also fighting attempts to weaken the encryption codes that shield your messages from prying eyes.

Yet privacy advocates have long complained that those companies reap billions of dollars by collecting all kinds of personal information, including records of customers' online behavior, and using it to target them for advertising.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has leveled jabs at his competitors, boasting that Apple doesn't rely on ad revenue for most of its services. As he's said more than once: "When an online service is free, you're not the customer. You're the product."

But even Apple collects some customer information. Experts say it's not really clear if Apple's privacy stance is a big selling point for most consumers.