Apple Co-Founder Wozniak Warns People To ‘Get Off Facebook’

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has hit out at Facebook and urged people to consider weaning themselves off the social networking platform.

Facebook of course has been at the centre of many privacy concerns over the past few years, but CEO Mark Zuckerberg in March outlined a “vision” for the future of social media that he said would hinge on privacy.

But these statements have done little to persuade Wozniak (commonly known as Woz) that the platform has changed much, and he urged that people “should figure out a way to get off Facebook.”

Get Off Facebook

Woz was filmed making the comments by TMZ at Reagan National Airport in Washington DC.

“There are many different kinds of people, and for some the benefits of Facebook are worth the loss of privacy,” he reportedly said.

“But to many like myself, my recommendation is – to most people – you should figure out a way to get off Facebook,” he said.

Woz also warned of the danger that internet-connected tech and other technological innovations could be used to track people.

“I mean, they can measure your heartbeat with lasers now,” he reportedly said. “They can listen to you with a lot of devices. Who knows if my cellphone’s listening right now?”

Apple has this week disabled the Walkie-Talkie app on the Apple Watch after a flaw was found that could allow people to listen into other people’s iPhones.

And although Woz has not been associated with Apple for many years now, he shares an opinion about social networking in line with Apple’s current CEO Tim Cook.

In 2018 whilst visiting a school in England Cook said that while he doesn’t have his own kids, he does not want his nephew to use a social network.

“I don’t have a kid, but I have a nephew that I put some boundaries on,” Cook was quoted as saying by The Guardian. “There are some things that I won’t allow; I don’t want them on a social network.”

Outspoken Woz

Woz has not been afraid to speak his mind about a range of subjects in recent years.

He has previously said that Microsoft’s Windows Phone OS had a more beautiful interface than the iPhone (although the iPhone remained his favourite smartphone).

Wozniak has predicted that, in the future, the world will be controlled by artificial intelligence (AI) and that robots will treat humans as their pets.

He also warned of an AI arms race.

In 2016 Woz even hit out at the Apple Watch, saying the move into the “jewellery market” means he no longer recognises the company he co-created.

He also also previously voiced his concerns about the cloud, predicting there will be “horrible problems” as adoption increases.

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