Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak says cyber crime is the new cold war
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has compared the levels of fear around cyber crime to that of the cold war.
Speaking about the pressure Apple has come under form US authorities to unlock the iPhone as a means of assisting US intelligence agencies Wozniak said the growing cyber threat concerns were reminiscent of cold war.
"We used to fear the atomic bomb when I was young, and you used to come home from school and sirens would go off for a test on every corner,” said Wozniak.
"Now we fear all the cyber attacks and hacking. What's the next one we're going to hear about?
"Is one going to come close to me? Is it going to hit me? Could they really take out our electrical system, take out our internet, how far can it go? And it's getting worse and worse year by year, not better and better."
The 65-year-old argued that these fears did not justify the US governments recent demands of Apple to unlock the iPhone to give it more freedom to monitor suspects.
He said: "What if the FBI was able to go to any company, any time they felt like it and said you have to build a product our way? I don't think that's right.
"What if the FBI can't get into a phone? They've still got all the records in this recent case, they've still got all the records from the phone company — of every communication that was made, of every SMS message that was sent."
In February, a judge ruled Apple could not be forced to give access to its devices, denying a motion by the Justice Department - a decision which was followed by a government appeal.