U S Senate Committee on Commerce Science and Transportation Hearing on “Examining Safeguards for Consumer Data Privacy” Written Congressional Testimony September 26 2018 Good morning Chairman Thune Ranking Member Nelson and members of the Committee   I am honored to be with you for this important hearing and to convey Apple’s support for comprehensive federal privacy legislation that reflects Apple’s longheld view that privacy is a fundamental human right My name is Bud Tribble   I am a physician my research background includes neurophysiology and mechanisms of epilepsy   I am also Vice President of Software Technology for Apple where I began my career in 1981 working as manager for the original Macintosh Software team   It was an exciting time to be at Apple Back then computing was something that was done by third-parties using big mainframe computers until the debut of personal computers like Macintosh   Few people could have imagined a day when they would have a computer in their pockets   And even fewer people could have imagined the amount of personal information that would be flowing in cyberspace To Apple privacy means much more than having the right to not share your personal information Privacy is about putting the user in control when it comes to that information That means that users can decide whether to share personal information and with whom It means that they understand how that information will be used Ultimately privacy is about living in a world where you can trust that your decisions about how your personal information is shared and used are being respected We believe that privacy is a fundamental human right which should be supported by both social norms and the law This approach comes very naturally to Apple   We got our start by ushering in the personal computer revolution—putting the user in the driver’s seat of their own computer When the Internet began greasing the skids on information flow it seemed very natural and very important to extend that by putting users in control of their personal information Apple is about harnessing technology to empower people We have proved time and again that great experiences don’t have to come at the expense of privacy and security   At Apple this has a fundamental effect on how we develop all of our products Some would call this “privacy by design ”  It means that we challenge ourselves to minimize the amount of personal information we collect Can the information we do collect be less identifiable   Can we process information on the device instead of sending it to servers We want your device to know everything about you we don’t feel that we should When we do collect personal information we are specific and transparent about how it will be used   We do not combine it into a single large customer profile across all of our services We strive to give the user meaningful choice and control over what information is collected and used We spend a lot of time designing the best way to present those choices and explain them to the user And finally we provide strong easy to use security to help ensure that privacy expectations are not destroyed by bad actors These concepts have guided our design process for years because privacy is a core value at Apple not an obligation or an aftermarket add-on And these are a few of the concepts that we believe this Committee should consider as it undertakes the important task of drafting comprehensive privacy legislation that protects consumers and encourages continued innovation Mr Chairman Members of the Committee thank you for the opportunity to participate in this important hearing