On a March episode of the “Steve-O’s Wild Ride!” podcast, hosted by entertainer, television personality, and stunt performer Steve-O, Steve “Woz” Wozniak said that he and his wife both recently deactivated their Facebook accounts over data privacy concerns.
When he “likes” a friend’s post, the interaction isn’t about connecting with someone he knows, the Apple co-founder said – it’s about revealing his interests to advertisers.
That’s enough to keep him off the platform for the foreseeable future, he said, noting that he’s “scared a bit” about the amount of access Facebook had to his life: “Of all Big Tech, Facebook is probably No. 1 that I don’t like.”
“I read how it can still grab data and [send it] to Facebook, even when you’re not using the [platform],” Wozniak said. “I don’t believe this is right, because you should [be] honest, [so that] that every person who uses it knows what they’re doing.”
MacDailyNews Take: Exactly.
Privacy means people know what they’re signing up for, in plain English, and repeatedly. I’m an optimist; I believe people are smart, and some people want to share more data than other people do. Ask them. Ask them every time. Make them tell you to stop asking them if they get tired of your asking them. Let them know precisely what you’re going to do with your data. — Steve Jobs
Wozniak isn’t the only one wary of Facebook’s privacy standards. In October, Frances Haugen, a former Facebook product manager for civic misinformation, testified to Congress that the platform actively prioritizes user engagement over safety and mental health. Facebook presents “false choices … between connecting with those you love online and your personal privacy,” Haugen stated.
To stay connected with friends and family, Wozniak — perhaps predictably — said he primarily relies on Apple services.
MacDailyNews Take: Yes, again.
We use FaceBook as an RSS feed. Our CMS automatically reposts our article headlines and links them back to our website. That is our only interaction with Facebook and has been our only interaction with Facebook for years. We deleted our personal accounts [which we opened only so we could understand the Facebook phenomenon] many years ago.
If you want to share photos and videos with friends, text them using Apple’s end-to-end encrypted iMessage service. You need to control your social networking, not cede it to a gatekeeper like Facebook. – MacDailyNews, March 19, 2018
As we’ve said many times: Delete Facebook.
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“Least Favorite…” ?….. He is being kind with his words … The words Favorite and FB in one sentence, (even if it is ‘the least’ are oxymoronic.
FB belongs on the other end of the scale…. ie ‘Least hated or most hated’…. that feels more befitting!
The sooner it disappears .. the better!
The great and powerful WOZ has spoken. Amen, brother…
If Woz is no fan of Farcebook, imagine what low esteem he would have for knockoff social networks with idiosyncratic names. Or worse, a gaggle ad laden political website that hypocritically links to Farcebook, Tweeter, and other disinformation sites while complaining about the hand that feeds it. It doesn’t have to be this way.
Shame on him for creating an account in the first place and taking this long to cancel
Yeah, for a really tech-smart guy, he speaks like he received a recent revelation.
It’s been a little over 10 yrs for me…for the same security reasons and I had little idea how much of a jerk Markie was.
woz is my least favorite former Apple employee. Just kidding I wanted to reply/jab with a twist on what he said. I too hate DeFace Book
Late to the game but better late than never. There are those in the world who simply don’t care. You are Facebook’s best friend in every respect. But there are some us who draw the line. Facebook gets to see what I do on Facebook, yes. They don’t get to watch and record everything I do across my phone, computer and through websites I visit.
For anyone who owns an iPhone and doesn’t have Facebook or Google apps (including no Google Search engine), here’s a quick test for you. Go into settings-privacy-app privacy report(you’ll have to turn on app privacy report and wait about a week if it is not on). Scroll down to ‘most contacted domains’. Google and Facebook in various forms (such as “analysts:) are likely high on the most contacted domain list.
Interesting that they aren’t even installed and yet they are being contacted frequently, sometimes most frequently.
You can check the privacy report on Safari as well. Just so you know, this site is a big offender as well
I don’t know on what app y’all are getting the MacDaily or are replying to it, but I use Google, which is, as far as I know, has the same user data process as FB. Google provides a myriad of free services, and FB continues to evolve. My major use of it now is to participate in affinity groups — history, genealogy, school, etc.
Both Facebook (Meta) and Google (Alphabet) are glorified ad agencies that treat you as the product. In 2021, Alphabet generated $209 billion (81% of its total revenues) from ads. Meta generated $114.9 billion (97% of its total revenues from ads). This website, unfortunately, helps enable these unscrupulous players to dominate the internet, pushing people to view what is profitable to them, with lax oversight at best. Much of the content they spread is misinformation, but these companies prioritize profit over transparency. Unlike reliable data sources, Facebook and Google take zero effort to disclose who paid for the content they share, or where the company took the information. Every time you use any of these company’s “free” products, such as Whatsapp or Chrome, you are feeding their information skimming programs. Every time you see a search result, somebody paid to put their search result ahead of the others. Do yourself a favor and take the extra effort to find better alternatives.