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Steve Jobs biographer Walter Isaacson has called Apple “a force for good” for its stand on privacy, but Facebook should also take more responsibility for content it hosts.
Facebook and Apple are in a public war of words, with the social network trying to convince the world that Apple’s upcoming privacy changes are bad for business. In the opinion of Steve Jobs’ official biography author Walter Isaacson, Apple is on the right side of the issue.
“I think we always have to worry about whether tech is a force for good,” Isaacson said in Yahoo Finance Friday interview. “I think Apple really does, in general, because it both protects our privacy, and it doesn’t base its entire business model on the advertising model, which means its harvesting all your information and doing microtargeting for you. ”
The interview spoke to Isaacson’s latest book, “The Code Breaker,” but discussed several areas, including the ongoing spat between Facebook and Apple.
On the social network, Isaacson suggests that Facebook and Twitter need to be more accountable for the algorithms that everyone makes, as they tend to “encourage people to get angry and passing on incorrect information. ”
The author cites Steve Jobs as part of his reasoning, to explain why Apple didn’t go down the social media path. Isaacson was the author of Steve Jobs’ official biography, giving him a high level of access to the co – founder over several years.
According to Isaacson, Jobs was not comfortable with the idea that Apple would create a social network. “He was very careful in making sure people had control over their technology instead of the technology controlling them,” he said.
The historian went on to say that “works for me are a model of how people should approach the digital age. And that’s why it wasn’t as comfortable with social media and social networks. ”
Apple is currently launching the Transparency Tracking App feature of iOS, which will require developers to get permission from users before monitoring a device’s ad identifier. Facebook and other media-advertising companies have fought back against the move, which will make it harder to track users and serve personal ads.