SANTA CLARA, CA — Steve Wozniak, one of the founders of Apple, said in a recent interview with CBS that he is disappointed with the current internet. He said that the technology he helped create has become a “fertile ground for fraud.” Wozniak, who started Apple with Steve Jobs, claimed that the computer revolution was a good thing until new business models came along that let firms “exercise power over other people.”
The talk started because of a personal experience with a YouTube cryptocurrency fraud that exploited Wozniak’s picture and likeness without his permission. Scammers took footage of him talking about bitcoin and added a “frame” to the video with a bitcoin address, falsely offering to double any cryptocurrency transferred to it. Jennifer Marion lost 0.9 bitcoin, which was worth $59,000 at the time.
Janet Wozniak told CBS that the fake video stayed on YouTube even though they tried to report it many times. “YouTube is helping people steal money,” she stated, showing her anger at how slowly the site was responding.
Wozniak then sued YouTube on behalf of the victims, but the case has been stuck for five years because of a legislation from 1996 called the Communications Decency Act. Section 230 of the act gives online platforms a lot of legal protection, so they can’t be held responsible for what other people write. Wozniak says that this means that platforms have “no liability at all” and that the protection is “totally absolute.” Brian Danitz, his lawyer, said that scammers bring in billions of dollars every year and that platforms aren’t doing enough to stop them.
Wozniak went on to say that his worries about fraud go beyond just one website. He talked on how common frauds are on the internet, such as spam, phishing, and schemes that use artificial intelligence that are getting more and more complex. He answered, “There isn’t enough real muscle to fight it.”
Wozniak thought back to the early days of the internet and saw it as a way for everyone to share information without any gatekeepers. He was sad that the initial promise was replaced by monetization approaches that put making money for businesses first. Wozniak remarked, “Companies figured out how to take advantage of it.” He used Google’s business model of tracking user data to sell to ads as a good illustration of this change.