Apple’s Cold War Over Privacy Turns Hot
By Christopher Mims
Apple Inc. delivered a disciplinarian smack to two of its biggest rivals this week. Facebook Inc. and Google soon won a reprieve, but it’s unlikely to end there.
The battle is, at least on the surface, about protecting our privacy. So why does it feel like we, the consumers, will continue to get caught in the crossfire?...
“We’re entering this world where sellers can so deeply interfere with users and their devices that we may live to regret that,” says Chris Hoofnagle, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who teaches information privacy law...
Last spring, news of the Cambridge Analytica scandal—where Facebook user data was leaked to third-party developers—brought the two companies into direct conflict. Mr. Cook criticized Facebook’s data collection and buildup of detailed profiles without users’ knowledge. Mr. Zuckerberg defended his business as “the only rational model” to serve an audience that includes people who can’t afford to pay. Facebook has never offered a paid version of its service.
The challenge for regulators is that every time there’s a new revelation about how Facebook handles user privacy, it risks delaying prosecution by the FTC. As each development arises, it adds a potential wrinkle to the FTC’s case against the company.
“I think it’s as complex as the Mueller investigation,” says Mr. Hoofnagle...
Chris Jay Hoofnagle is an adjunct full professor at the UC Berkeley School of Information and School of Law.
