Competition Helps the Common Good

Just recently, I commented on Apple CEO Tim Cook challenging the business model of Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook in giving users a free service in return for their supplying Facebook with valuable information to sell to advertisers, thus turning “customers” into “suppliers.”

Cook announced that Apple would provide a filter so that users could gain control over the use of their personal information.

Facebook has now bowed to the morality of Apple’s concern for its customers by inserting a prompt in its app to educate users about the use of their personal information. The new Facebook screen will ask users for permission to use data collected from third-party websites and apps.

Thus, competition from Apple has forced Facebook to give its “suppliers” more respect, as persons with dignity.