Apple boss wants more state intervention in tech business

Tim Cook, CEO of the world’s largest tech company Apple, has once more called for greater regulation of the sector.

Speaking at an event organised by Time magazine, Cook said “We all have to be intellectually honest, and we have to admit that what we’re doing isn’t working. Technology needs to be regulated. There are now too many examples where the no rails have resulted in a great damage to society.”

Now it must be stressed that Cook was referring to privacy and data protection, which happen to be far greater concerns for Apple competitors such as Google, Facebook and Amazon than Apple itself. On the matter of gadgets he was much less strident, noting only that it isn’t Apple’s aim for people to be glued to their devices all the time, which could be interpreted as another dig at its internet competitors.

Cook seems to consider himself a deeply moral person, saying thins like “I’m not sure this is the right thing but I focus on what’s right,” and “At the end of the day we’ll be judged more by did we stand up for what we believed in, not necessarily do they agree with me on everything.” On this basis he seems to reconcile himself to the growing dependence on devices such as those sold by his company by blaming that on the services rather than the devices themselves.

Having called for greater state intervention in the activities of his competitors Cook was quick to stress he doesn’t think companies should get directly involved in politics. “Apple is probably one of the only large companies that doesn’t have a PAC (political action committee). I refuse to have one because it shouldn’t exist. I think the people that should be able to donate are people that can vote.” Those are good points but, as his previous points indicate, there are many ways for tech companies to behave politically.