Steve Wozniak Decries Tracking's Effect on Privacy, Calls Out 'Hypocrisy' of Only Banning TikTok

In an interview Saturday, CNN first asked Steve Wozniak about Apple's 'walled garden' approach — and whether there's any disconnect between Apple's stated interest in user security and privacy, and its own self-interest?

Wozniak responded, 'I think there are things you can say on all sides of it.
'I'm kind of glad for the protection that I have for my privacy and for you know not getting hacked as much. Apple does a better job than the others.
And tracking you — tracking you is questionable, but my gosh, look at what we're accusing TikTok of, and then go look at Facebook and Google... That's how they make their business! I mean, Facebook was a great idea. But then they make all their money just by tracking you and advertising.
And Apple doesn't really do that as much. I consider Apple the good guy.

So then CNN directly asked Wozniak's opinion about the proposed ban on TikTok in the U.S.
'Well, one, I don't understand it. I don't see why. I mean, I get a lot of entertainment out of TikTok — and I avoid the social web. But I love to watch TikTok, even if it's just for rescuing dog videos and stuff.

And so I'm thinking, well, what are we saying? We're saying 'Oh, you might be tracked by the Chinese'. Well, they learned it from us.
I mean, look, if you have a principle — a person should not be tracked without them knowing it? It's kind of a privacy principle — I was a founder of the EFF. And if you have that principle, you apply it the same to every company, or every country. You don't say, 'Here's one case where we're going to outlaw an app, but we're not going to do it in these other cases.'

So I don't like the hypocrisy. And that's always obviously common from a political realm.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.