Apple reiterates stance on privacy as a human right in interview

A new interview with members of Apple's privacy team covers many topics and questions about the company's commitment to keeping its users safe.

If you're an Apple fan, chances are you're aware of Apple's commitment to privacy and its mantra — privacy is a fundamental human right. It has become so central to the brand that entire ads are created to promote the concept.

An interview with Apple's User Privacy Engineering Manager Katie Skinner and Apple's Privacy Product Marketing Lead Sandy Parakilas dives into the company's decision-making behind preserving user privacy. Topics include how Apple weighs choosing privacy over more advanced features, whether devices are listening to you, and how Apple Intelligence plays into all of this.

The 45-minute conversation jumps through many topics very quickly, and most of the information will likely feel repetitive and well-trodden to those paying attention. However, if you've been looking for a primer on Apple's privacy protection and beliefs, this is a good go-to for sharing with others with time to spare for the topic.

The Apple privacy team members stick to the script and provide detailed answers to every question, though nothing revelatory or new is shared. Any questions pointing to the future of products like Apple Intelligence are panned as expected.

Apple is set to release its new operating systems, including iOS 18, in the fall. Each has new privacy features like the ability to hide apps, a new Passwords app, and per-app Contacts permissions similar to Photos.

11 Comments

Xed 2769 comments · 4 Years

About 1 month ago

"It's not that I have something to hide. I have nothing I want you to see." — The Girl, Anon (2018)

That said, this issue is and will always be tug-of-war. Do individuals deserver privacy? Absolutely. Do we need to make sure that individual rights aren't being violated by those that would abuse privacy rights? Absolutely. So how can we have both at the same time?

Apple working to add CSAM to iCloud Photos is a great example of just how difficult this to balance and get right.

entropys 4244 comments · 13 Years

Not a human right. But a constitutional right we all deserve.

Alex_V 235 comments · 6 Years

I remember when the debate, in the mid to late 1990s in the UK, was about privacy and being free from surveillance. By the 2000s every inch of the UK was covered by CCTV cameras, and later we ended up with the dystopian-cautionary-tale-from-hell that is Google, surveilling absolutely every detail about us that they can get their hands on. If this is the trajectory that we’re on, god help us.

beowulfschmidt 2292 comments · 12 Years

entropys said:

Not a human right. But a constitutional right we all deserve.

Constitutional rights are human rights. I wish the phrase "Constitutional Rights" would just go away. The U.S. Constitution is not a grant of any rights to anyone, it is a grant of power to the government from the people. It is designed, according to the principles laid out in the Declaration of Independence, not to grant rights, but to protect from violation by government those rights that are yours simply by virtue of you having been born. The Founders originally intended for the rule to be "if it ain't in the Constitution as a granted power, the government can't do it." One of the reasons there was such a fight over the Bill of Rights was because some felt it to be too much like granting rights, which was to be avoided. Turns out those concerns were correct, since that's how most politicians seem to feel about it these days. "The Constitution doesn't give you the right to X!" is a refrain often heard from people who don't understand the principles that are supposed to underlie our system of government. It should be "The Constitution doesn't give the government the authority to do that."

gatorguy 24479 comments · 13 Years

Alex_V said:

I remember when the debate, in the mid to late 1990s in the UK, was about privacy and being free from surveillance. By the 2000s every inch of the UK was covered by CCTV cameras, and later we ended up with the dystopian-cautionary-tale-from-hell that is Google, surveilling absolutely every detail about us that they can get their hands on. If this is the trajectory that we’re on, god help us.

It's so cute that you believe it's simply "Google surveillance" we need to be protected from. OMG, think of the ads! /s

Open your eyes to what's going on around you. Familarize yourself with names like Infogroup, Acxiom, and Localeze, and massive surveillance systems like those owned by Hikvision, Axis Communictions, Palo Alto Networks, Eagle Eye Networks, and even Amazon Ring. Stay away from the cities of Seoul, Atlanta, and London if you don't want your movements tracked step by step. None of these surveillers are all about ads. If they were there would be little to worry about IMO.

Just because only one of the companies mentioned, Google, competes in any way with Apple doesn't require you put a white hat on one of the duopolists and a black hat on the other. There's a plethora of hats in many colors shared among the surveilers mentioned, and that's only the tiniest number of the ones out there watching, scanning, and cataloging you, and far more dangerous to your privacy and personal rights than an advertising placement company.