Though Apple CEO Tim Cook is not a fan of the idea of government regulation of tech companies, he admits discussion about it is “fair” because data privacy is a burgeoning issue.
“Generally, for me, I’m not a big fan of regulation, I think self-regulation is the best,” Cook said in a CNN interview Monday night. “But when it’s not working, and in some cases it’s not working, you have to ask yourself what form of regulation might be good. And I think it’s a fair question many people are asking at this point.”
Cook added that Apple’s stance is that “privacy is a fundamental human right.”
“The privacy thing has gotten totally out of control,” Cook said. “I think most people are not aware of who is tracking them, how much they’re being tracked, and sort of the large amounts of detailed data that are out there about them.”
Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said earlier this year while testifying before Congress that he was open to governmental regulation on Facebook and other social media and tech companies, as long as it was the right regulation.
[Related: Devin Nunes warns Google may need to testify if anti-GOP search results keep showing up]
