The struggle for privacy
When Apple announced the delayed rollout, it was quite detailed about its concerns: “Specifically, we are concerned that the interoperability requirements of the DMA could force us to compromise the integrity of our products in ways that risk user privacy and data security,” it said. “We are committed to collaborating with the European Commission in an attempt to find a solution that would enable us to deliver these features to our EU customers without compromising their safety.”
But Vestager’s arguments, and previous mutterings on the topic of user security and privacy, seem to suggest that the “pro competition” trading bloc that gave us GDPR (ironically wrecking the economics of small website publishers when it did), isn’t going to be terribly receptive to Apple’s arguments that the highly personal data gathered on someone’s device should be protected, minimized, and not simply made available to third party AI competitors without clear user consent, protection, and oversight.
‘This is surveillance’
As Apple CEO, Tim Cook warned six years ago, the potential for AI-driven surveillance has never been greater; that really is what is at stake in Apple’s struggles with the European Commission.