Apple CEO declares “Our own information…is being weaponized against us with military efficiency!”

Wall Street Journal is reporting Apple CEO, Tim Cook, stated “Our own information—from the everyday to the deeply personal—is being weaponized against us with military efficiency,” Mr. Cook said. “Today, that trade has exploded into a data-industrial complex.”*

Washington’s small to mid-size businesses are not the “data-industrial complex.”  However, we can expect strong reactions from state and federal legislators to demand businesses, small to large; to implement much stronger defenses to protect personal data.  Also, we shall see tighter prohibitions regarding the collection of personal data. I understand and agree to some extent!

More and more, we are finding leaders beginning improve security and privacy as a matter of business cost control–not as a means of compliance.   It is better to make effective, measured improvements over time; rather than get forced by legislation to make significant changes–driven by an arbitrary compliance date.

I was personally involved with knee-jerk legislation, when the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was enacted into law.  Many of us–attorneys, auditors, business colleugues were all looking at each other, trying desparately, to intreprete the law.  We were also realizing the powerful consequences, if we do not meet the regulatory requirements, on time.  Tough times. The company I was working with at the time, spent millions over that year, just to produce a report with two signatures.  Huh!

Please feel free to comment or call me.

Paul Scott

(425) 750-0760

 

 

* https://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-ceo-tim-cook-calls-for-comprehensive-u-s-privacy-law-1540375675

 

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