What Apple’s Tim Cook Overlooked in His Defense of Privacy

[Commentary] Timothy Cook, Apple’s chief executive, delivered a speech that raised some eyebrows in the technology industry. His blistering defense of privacy, which he and other Apple executives repeated at the company’s developer conference, was notable. But while Cook raised awareness for digital privacy, his speech glossed over two main issues. For one, he neglected to mention that Apple also collects a great deal of data about how we use technology. While it has more protections for that data than many rivals, the company plainly states in its privacy policy that it does use private data in many ways, including to build and market its own products, and to build its own advertising network. Cook also failed to fairly explore the substantial benefits that free, ad-supported services have brought to consumers worldwide. Many hundreds of millions of people now have access to more information and communication technologies because of such services.