Steve Wozniak has often been a vocal critic of Apple, the company he helped found.
But not now, not with the government bearing down and the public’s privacy at stake. In an interview with talk show host Conan O’Brien on Monday, Woz said he stands behind Apple as the gadget maker defies a court order in a legal battle with the FBI. (Watch the segment above for his comments.)
A federal court in California has ordered Apple to create software that would enable the FBI to hack into the phone used by one of the shooters in December’s terrorist attacks in San Bernardino. Apple refuses on the grounds that creating a software “master key” could be used on all iPhones and place millions of handset owners at risk of intrusion.
“They picked a lame case,” he said of the FBI. “They picked the lamest case they ever could.”
“Verizon turned over all the phone records and SMS messages,” Wozniak told O’Brien, “So they want to take this other phone that the two didn’t destroy, which was a work phone, and it’s so lame and worthless to expect something’s on it.”
Why is it news that Woz would back the company he helped to create? For starters, Woz is no rubber-stamp endorsement of everything Apple. He has made such comments as: “I don’t like being in the Apple ecosystem. I don’t like being trapped.” He beat up Siri. He talked up Android.
His candid and objective comments have helped him to remain a respected voice in the tech sector.
Wozniak told O’Brien that he’s a big believer in human rights and said to audience applause that he helped found the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the group that advocates for Web users and tech companies. But not all of tech’s big names are behind Apple.
Bill Gates has made comments that indicate he’s at least skeptical of some of Apple’s arguments.
