Tim Cook calls for GDPR-like law for US

The Apple chief praised European data protection at a conference in Brussels

Apple CEO Tim Cook has criticised the "weaponisation" of personal data by companies and called for the US to enact a GDPR-like law, during a speech in Brussels.

Cook said that personal data is increasingly being "weaponised against us with military efficiency," during his time speaking at the International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners, held in the European Parliament.

He told delegates, "We shouldn't sugar-coat the consequences. This is surveillance… [It] should make us very uncomfortable, it should unsettle us."

The head of the world's richest firm described the problem as the "data industrial complex", pointing out how much money (billions of dollars) is being made by using peoples' likes and dislikes, "hopes and dreams".

"Platforms and algorithms that promised to improve our lives can actually magnify our worst human tendencies," he said.

Unsurprisingly for someone who purports to care so much about privacy - Apple famously refused to unlock a terrorist's iPhone for the FBI in 2016 - Cook said that his company fully supports the USA implementing a law like the GDPR:

"This year, you've shown the world that good policy and political will can come together to protect the rights of everyone. It is time for the rest of the world, including my home country, to follow your lead.

"We at Apple are in full support of a comprehensive federal privacy law in the United States."

While Cook did not mention the Cambridge Analytica scandal or Facebook, some of his remarks about misuse of data were clearly aimed in that direction. Mark Zuckerberg and Google CEO Sundar Pichai will both appear in pre-recorded video messages at the same conference later this week.