Apple Co-Founder Wozniak Bashes Facebook Over Privacy
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak says he isn't sure Facebook can fix its privacy issues and he expects it will be decades before it changes its policies.
Wozniak announced he's shutting down his Facebook account amid the worst privacy crisis the social media company has faced.
In an interview Monday in Philadelphia with The Associated Press, Wozniak called Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's failure to look after his users' privacy hypocritical.
He notes Zuckerberg bought lots and houses around his home to ensure his privacy.
"Facebook keeps things secret. Big hypocrisy, not respecting my privacy," Wozniak said. "When Zuckerberg buys all the houses around his and all the lots around he is in Hawaii for his own privacy knows the value of it but he's not looking after mine. And then last week some of my most trusted ethical and with the highest integrity friends dropped Facebook and I thought you know what. That's a sign and I'm dropping it. And I know that I won't care. Yeah I'll do some good things but I went once three weeks with no phone and no computer on a cruise. When I got back home I thought oh my gosh I had been missing everything while I was gone, get back. It didn't matter a bit."
Wozniak says he closed his Facebook account after several trusted friends deleted their accounts last week amid the company's data privacy scandal.
"When I'm checking like it's between me and you who posted something. I answer you and give you a little comment back. That is great. I don't think that it's being sold to advertisers. I think it should be private and privacy is not respected by that company the way it is at Apple."
Facebook has announced technical changes intended to address privacy issues.
"I'm sure that they get aggregates of things but I don't see direct targeted marketing coming from me for things I do on Apple. Not only that I share photographs on Apple with family and friends," said Wozniak. "They've got these great albym system on iCloud and it doesn't have all these word problems. A Facebook cheer picture on Facebook. They only they can sell it. They can make money off of it and I don't get any of it. No I'd rather be able to buy you know my myself and I have that feeling much more with Apple products and Apple services."
In an email to USA Today, Wozniak says Facebook makes a lot of advertising money from personal details provided by users. He says the "profits are all based on the user's info, but the users get none of the profits back."
Wozniak says he'd rather pay for Facebook. He says "Apple makes money off of good products, not off of you."
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is testifying on Capitol Hill on Tuesday and Wednesday about the company's ongoing data-privacy scandal and how it failed to guard against other abuses of its service.
Wozniak continued, "Now the people who are on Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg has almost total voting control. Okay so one person sort of stands out. But he and his executives gave themselves a special privilege of being able to delete old posts, they didn't give it to you and me like their privilege. They're above us. You should act like all of your customers are equals and this comes from a personality disorder not a disorder but a personality type and personality don't change at the age of 23. You're going to keep doing the same things for the same reasons that you've always considered right in your life. So I don't think Facebook's going to change its policies, not for decades."
Wozniak said Apple Inc., based in Cupertino, California, has systems and policies that in many cases allow people to choose whether to share certain data.
He said he doesn't foresee Apple not allowing the Facebook app to be bought or downloaded on its phones but said he does not make those decisions for the company.
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