Wozniak, Steve

Co-founded Apple Computer with Steve Jobs in 1976 and is known for his development of the Apple I and Apple II computer. Steve Wozniak is also known for having many other famous friends in the Computer Underground, including phreaker John Draper.

Wozniak was a key speaker at the HOPE 5 convention in New York City in July 2004, and in an interview before his speech, Wozniak, now over age 50, lamented that people too often think of hackers as terrorists. He argued that this fear has resulted in the U.S. government’s giving undeservedly severe sentences to violators of computer fraud statutes, regardless of the amount of damage caused to computer systems.

During his speech before the large hacker crowd at HOPE 5, Wozniak entertained the crowd with stories of the many innocent pranks he had engaged in during his formative years, such as using his phreaking skills to place a free call to the Pope. Wozniak’s home page can be found at: http://www.woz.org/.

See Also: Draper, John; Fraud; Hacker; HOPE (Hackers on Planet Earth).