Apple and CEO Tim Cook have always branded the company as fundamentally different from its competitors on privacy. iOS devices collect and use less data on their users than companies like Google and are generally considered more secure than their Android equivalents, and the company has been loudly tooting its own horn on the matter as it introduces competing services like Apple sign-in for third-party sites. Apple and Cook have also been more aggressive fighting hate speech and misinformation, banning conspiracy theorists like Alex Jones and making clear their view that Big Tech needs to do more.

In a commencement speech at Stanford on Sunday, Cook took this approach to the next level, accusing certain Silicon Valley companies of operating as a “chaos factory” and of refusing to take responsibility for what they have created. Though he didn’t name names, Cook took a fairly clear potshot at failed blood testing startup Theranos and referred to issues that have plagued companies like Facebook and YouTube.

Cook added that the lack of privacy and digital surveillance endemic to the tech world today would have “stopped Silicon Valley before it got started” and “If we accept as normal and unavoidable that everything in our lives can be aggregated, sold and even leaked in the event of a hack, then we lose so much more than data. We lose the freedom to be human.”

The CEO’s advice to graduates: “... At the very least, learn from these mistakes. If you want to take credit, first learn to take responsibility.”

Source: Gizmodo