Apple CEO Tim Cook Writes Letter to U.S. Senate Supporting Strong Privacy Legislation

Apple CEO Tim Cook today wrote a letter to the U.S. Senate advocating for strong privacy legislation at the federal level. The letter appears to be in response to a proposed bipartisan bill titled the "American Data Privacy and Protection Act" that would outline the types of data companies can collect from individuals and how they can use it.

tim cook privacy conference
The letter, obtained by MacRumors, is addressed to Maria Cantwell (D-WA), the Chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, and Frank Pallone (D-NJ), the Chair of the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

In the letter, Cook said Apple continues to support efforts at the federal level to establish strong privacy protections for consumers. Cook added that Apple is encouraged by the draft proposals that Senate leaders have produced and reiterated Apple's belief that privacy is a fundamental human right. Cook said that while Apple fights to protect user privacy, "only Congress can provide strong privacy protections for all Americans."

The full text of the letter reads as follows:

Dear Chairs Cantwell and Pallone and Ranking Members Wicker and McMorris Rodgers:

Thank you for your ongoing work on privacy legislation. Apple continues to support efforts at the federal level to establish strong privacy protections for consumers, and we are encouraged by the draft proposals your offices have produced.

We recognize that there are outstanding issues to be resolved, but the areas of agreement appear to far outweigh the differences. Your drafts would provide substantial protections for consumers, and we write to offer our strong support towards achieving this shared goal. With your work, coupled with President Biden's call to better protect children’s privacy, it appears Americans are closer than ever to obtaining meaningful privacy protections.

At Apple, we believe privacy is a fundamental human right. It is why we have consistently advocated for comprehensive privacy legislation and contributed to the process whenever possible. It is also why we've always built products and features that protect users and their information by default. We do this by minimizing the data we collect, processing as much data as possible on a user's device, giving users transparency as to what data is collected and control as to how it is used, and building robust systems to protect user data across all our products and services.

While Apple will continue to innovate and develop new ways to protect user data, only Congress can provide strong privacy protections for all Americans. The continued absence of this important legislation will unfortunately perpetuate a patchwork approach to privacy rights that leaves too many without the rigorous standards we hope to see as a result of your hard work.

We strongly urge you to advance comprehensive privacy legislation as soon as possible, and we stand ready to assist in this process in the days ahead.

Sincerely,
Tim Cook
CEO, Apple

Last month, Apple shared a new ad highlighting iPhone privacy features like App Tracking Transparency and Mail Privacy Protection that are designed to give users more transparency and control when it comes to their personal data being collected.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Lower Logo Feature 1

iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 14 New Features

Monday June 30, 2025 1:08 pm PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are less than three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max in September this year. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an...
Apple Watch Ultra Night Mode Screen

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Launching Later This Year With Two Key Upgrades

Wednesday July 2, 2025 1:13 pm PDT by
The long wait for an Apple Watch Ultra 3 appears to be nearly over, and it is rumored to feature both satellite connectivity and 5G support. Apple Watch Ultra's existing Night Mode In his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is on track to launch this year with "significant" new features, including satellite connectivity, which would let you...
A18 Pro Chip

New MacBook With A18 Pro Chip Spotted in Apple Code

Monday June 30, 2025 8:05 am PDT by
Apple is developing a MacBook with the A18 Pro chip, according to findings in backend code uncovered by MacRumors. Earlier today, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reported that Apple is planning to launch a low-cost MacBook powered by an iPhone chip. The machine is expected to feature a 13-inch display, the A18 Pro chip, and color options that include silver, blue, pink, and yellow. MacRumors...
iPhone 17 Pro Lower Logo Magsafe

iPhone 17 Pro's New MagSafe Design Revealed in Leaked Photo

Wednesday July 2, 2025 8:37 am PDT by
The upcoming iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are rumored to have a slightly different MagSafe magnet layout compared to existing iPhone models, and a leaked photo has offered a closer look at the supposed new design. The leaker Majin Bu today shared a photo of alleged MagSafe magnet arrays for third-party iPhone 17 Pro cases. On existing iPhone models with MagSafe, the magnets form a...
macbook air spacegray purple

Apple Planning to Launch Low-Cost MacBook Powered By iPhone Chip

Monday June 30, 2025 3:20 am PDT by
Apple is planning to launch a low-cost MacBook powered by an iPhone chip, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. In an article published on X, Kuo explained that the device will feature a 13-inch display and the A18 Pro chip, making it the first Mac powered by an iPhone chip. The A18 Pro chip debuted in the iPhone 16 Pro last year. To date, all Apple silicon Macs have contained M-series...
iOS 18

Apple Releases Second iOS 18.6 Public Beta

Tuesday July 1, 2025 10:19 am PDT by
Apple today seeded the second betas of upcoming iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 updates to public beta testers, with the betas coming just a day after Apple provided the betas to developers. Apple has also released a second beta of macOS Sequoia 15.6. Testers who have signed up for beta updates through Apple's beta site can download iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 from the Settings app on a compatible...
Wi Fi WiFi General Feature

iOS 26 Adds a Useful New Wi-Fi Feature to Your iPhone

Wednesday July 2, 2025 6:36 am PDT by
iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 add a smaller yet useful Wi-Fi feature to iPhones and iPads. As spotted by Creative Strategies analyst Max Weinbach, sign-in details for captive Wi-Fi networks are now synced across iPhones and iPads running iOS 26 and iPadOS 26. For example, while Weinbach was staying at a Hilton hotel, his iPhone prompted him to fill in Wi-Fi details from his iPad that was already...
maxresdefault

Five Features Coming to AirPods Pro 3

Friday June 27, 2025 10:52 am PDT by
Apple hasn't updated the AirPods Pro since 2022, and the earbuds are due for a refresh. We're counting on a new model this year, and we've seen several hints of new AirPods tucked away in Apple's code. Rumors suggest that Apple has some exciting new features planned that will make it worthwhile to upgrade to the latest model. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Heal...
replay all time playlist apple music

Apple Music Debuts All-New Personalized Playlist

Monday June 30, 2025 7:16 am PDT by
As part of its 10-year celebrations of Apple Music, Apple today released an all-new personalized playlist that collates your entire listening history. The playlist, called "Replay All Time," expands on Apple Music's existing Replay features. Previously, users could only see their top songs for each individual calendar year that they've been subscribed to Apple Music, but now, Replay All...

Top Rated Comments

nvmls Avatar
40 months ago
Double face Timmey at work, force C-SAM into consumers then write a pretty PR letter.
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
antiprotest Avatar
40 months ago
Except for listening to your dictation and Siri requests, wanting to C-SCAM all your photos, not really encrypting your data so that it can be social engineered into releasing your data to fake cops with fake warrants, and a whole bunch of other stuff, Apple is the best on privacy. It certainly talks the loudest about it.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Naraxus Avatar
40 months ago
Except where iOS is concerned.

Then it's "Here's a key to the backdoor."
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Realityck Avatar
40 months ago
I like the fact that Apple prioritizes privacy and points this out to the federal level. Too many companies out there that just think of your online activity as a way to line their pocketbooks.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
antiprotest Avatar
40 months ago

Except where iOS is concerned.

Then it's "Here's a key to the backdoor."
C-SCAM is a big front door plastered with righteous intentions and virtuous slogans.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TheYayAreaLiving ?️ Avatar
40 months ago
I stand behind this.

[MEDIA=twitter]1527067617671847937[/MEDIA]
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)