Sundar Pichai, in New York Times op-ed:
Over the past 20 years, billions of people have trusted Google with questions they wouldn’t have asked their closest friends: How do you know if you’re in love? Why isn’t my baby sleeping? What is this weird rash on my arm? We’ve worked hard to continually earn that trust by providing accurate answers and keeping your questions private.
And:
“For everyone” is a core philosophy for Google; it’s built into our mission to create products that are universally accessible and useful. That’s why Search works the same for everyone, whether you’re a professor at Harvard or a student in rural Indonesia. And it’s why we care just as much about the experience on low-cost phones in countries starting to come online as we do about the experience on high-end phones.
And:
Privacy cannot be a luxury good offered only to people who can afford to buy premium products and services. Privacy must be equally available to everyone in the world.
This op-ed is fascinating to me. Feels like Google recognizes Apple’s incorporation of privacy into its brand as a foundational policy. And it feels like Google recognizes how important the issue of privacy has become as a product discriminator.
And, finally, this feels like shots across Apple’s bow. As in, Apple values privacy, but only for the people who can afford their products. With Google’s release of the Pixel 3a, priced at $399, feels like Sundar Pichai is pitching Google, and the pixel, as the privacy-respecting product for the masses.
Anyone buying this?
I’m not even buying that this was an op-ed and not a sponsored piece.
I believe, he believes what he’s saying. Google & Facebook know that some type of GDPR is coming to the U.S. someday and they’re preparing for it. Ultimately, GDPR and Apple making privacy a brand differentiator, has made privacy a competitive issue. Now the big 4 are competing on privacy, which is ultimately good for us the consumer.
p.s. don’t ever fully trust any of them…
Lovely words from one of the people least qualified to define “privacy” for anyone. I expect his legal team has a volume full of weasel language standing ready to cover their continuing operations, just as Facebook does.
He’s trying to step into Apple’s spotlight on the issue, but the effects of how Google implements these lovely words will likely not change much. Their primary business still relies on intrusive data collection.
Privacy protection for commodity tech? Pull the other one.
The U.S. equivalent of the GDPR will likely be rendered toothless by the time lobbyists get through picking it apart.
Seems odd to call it a cheap shot when Google pulled out of China for years because of the privacy and censorship policies, while Apple handed over the keys to their customers’ data. Best not project our own feeling onto big corporations as they are not moral actors, but rather moneymaking ones.
excellent point: “they are not moral actors, but rather moneymaking ones.”
No.
As in, Apple values privacy, but only for the people who can afford their products
If only Apple could somehow use magic Apple powers to make Google respect privacy!
Is his picture in the dictionary next to Chutzpah?
(Someone should tell him that Apple will sell you a new iPhone 7 for a mere $40 more than Google’s “for the masses” phone.
Might not be as nice, but it’s there as an option, brand new.)
He sure used some poor examples of what you wouldn’t tell your best friends. But then I’m sure he wouldn’t want to sully the discussion by mentioning porn, coming out as a My Little Pony fan, or white supremacist propaganda now would he?
Also interesting he didn’t bother mentioning China in his speech about equality in search.
And that’s a pretty cheap shot to say Apple only cares about privacy for the people who can afford their products. They no doubt value people’s privacy universally, whether they buy their products or not I would suspect. Especially someone like Tim Cook.
Of course I don’t buy it. Their entire business is based on collecting data.
As for the cheap shot at apple’s pricing, a) Until now Google’s stuff was in the same realm and b) the XR cost is something like $30 on a 2 year equipment plan. That’s not a ton of money for most people, especially when the $400 would translate to $15-20/month. So you’re looking at an extra, what, $15/month for an XR?
—
That is the dogma of the free market fundamentalists. I don’t remember Apple doing that. Where is the proof?
I was being descriptive rather than being prescriptive.
https://www.reuters .com/article/us-china-apple-icloud-insight/apple-moves-to-store-icloud-keys-in-china-raising-human-rights-fears-idUSKCN1G8060