In a speech this week the Apple boss insisted the US must introduce tougher data protection laws to counter the growing misuse of “deeply personal” data.

Cook said data is now being “weaponised against us with military efficiency” and likened industry data practices to government surveillance programmes.

We shouldn’t sugar-coat the consequences,” he said. “This is surveillance.”

The speech was made in Brussels at the International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners.

Following the EU’s Lead

Speaking in Brussels, Cook praised the EU’s new data protection laws, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and suggested the US must adopt a similar system to ensure user privacy rights are respected across the Atlantic.

Since its introduction in May this year, GDPR laws placed stronger restrictions on how businesses can handle personal information. Companies or organisations that fail to abide by GDPR regulations can risk a 20 million euro fine, or up to 4% of their annual revenue.

This year, Cook said, the European Union has “shown the world that good policy and political will can come together to protect the rights of everyone.”

Cook insisted that the time was right for the US and the rest of the world to follow the EU’s lead and adopt stricter regulations. These proposed regulations, he added, would receive the full support of Apple.

Unsettling Times

In the US, data privacy laws are significantly weaker, Cook suggested. He outlined what he believes to be a “data industrial complex”, which is enabling companies to generate billions of dollars in revenue from people’s “likes and dislikes” or “hopes and dreams”.

Cook warned delegates that the current situation in the US should make people “very uncomfortable” and that it should “unsettle us”.

Later on in his speech, the Apple chief said companies across the US and the world are using highly sensitive personal information to enrich themselves.

Apple has been a long-term proponent of tougher data privacy protection, with Cook particularly outspoken on the subject. From late 2015 through to 2016, the company was embroiled in a heated dispute with the FBI after refusing to help the bureau access data on the San Bernadino gunman’s iPhone.