While Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak may not agree with his former company on everything, one thing he does back them on is their reluctance to aid the federal government in unlocking an iPhone used by one of the shooters in the San Bernardino massacre.
CNet:
Steve Wozniak isn’t known for his guardedness. So when he gave an interview to CNBC on Thursday, he was extremely open about how he felt.
The Apple co-founder forcefully declared he was against any backdoors in phones.
“I believe that Apple’s brand recognition and value and profits is largely based on an item called trust,” Woz said. “Trust means you believe somebody. You believe you’re buying a phone with encryption.”
He explained how he felt the government wasn’t telling the whole story, saying, “Terrorism is just a phony word being used. The case involved actually with Apple right now had to be with — I believe it was a shooting or a murder or something. It wasn’t terrorism. You know what is terrorism? It’s just a deeper crime.”
Woz added that “the word ‘terrorist’ has been used way too often to scare people.”
Wozniak agrees with Apple CEO Tim Cook, that if Apple performs the “hack” once, then the government will not only do it again and again, but it could also be used for nefarious purposes by bad actors.
“I’m talking about the general case that goes much deeper than this case. And that is the FBI wants a permanent backdoor built in. And I just think that’s wrong,” he said.
Sadly, Woz believes Apple will eventually be forced to give in and aid the government in their quest to unlock the device in question. “My hunch is yes,” he admitted. “But I don’t know. I don’t know. I mean, if I were there I might fight it quite vigilantly.”
