The US tech industry has failed to appreciate the mounting global concern over its record on online privacy and security and must act fast to prevent deeper damage to its image, Silicon Valley’s top executives and investors have conceded.
The self-criticism, much of it aimed at consumer internet groups Google and Facebook, comes as some of the sector’s best-known names have been battered by a backlash over revelations of widespread US internet surveillance and concerns about their cultural dominance.
Peter Thiel, a start-up investor and Facebook director, said: “Silicon Valley is quite oblivious to the degree to which this crescendo of concern is building up in Europe. It’s an extremely important thing and Silicon Valley is underestimating it badly.”