Reuters:

Unlike Google, Amazon and Facebook, Apple is loathe to use customer data to deliver targeted advertising or personalized recommendations. Indeed, any collection of Apple customer data requires sign-off from a committee of three “privacy czars” and a top executive, according to four former employees who worked on a variety of products that went through privacy vetting.

Approval is anything but automatic: products including the Siri voice-command feature and the recently scaled-back iAd advertising network were restricted over privacy concerns, these people said.

Many employees take pride in Apple’s stance, and CEO Tim Cook has called it a matter of principle.

Whether Apple employees “loathe or fear” these czars mostly depends on how decisions affect their work. I’ve heard frustration from some but, overall, employees are happy and proud of Apple’s privacy stance both externally and internally, even if it causes frustration with what they are trying to accomplish.