Monday, December 7, 2009

Google’s Eric Schmidt On Privacy

Gawker points out that Google CEO Eric Schmidt (who once blacklisted CNet for publishing info about him that was found through Google) in a CNBC interview recently said, “If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.” Eric goes on to say, “But if you really need that kind of privacy, the reality is that search engines – including Google – do retain this information for some time. And it’s important, for example, that we’re all subject in the United States to the Patriot Act... it is possible that that information could be made available to the authorities.”

Earlier this year, Google’s Marissa Mayer told Digg, “I really feel that the virtual world follows the physical world ... There’s very few things you can do anonymously in the physical world. I think that over time, on the internet, there will be less anonymity. And I actually think that’s good; I think it creates, you know, more accountability, people acting more responsibly.”

Is Google (the one company many of us possibly trust with most of our private digital data, including emails, chat logs, and search history) with their recent statements partly undermining the idea of privacy and anonymity being worthwhile – or are they just honest about the pros and cons at hand?

[Thanks DPic!]

Google’s Eric Schmidt On ... by Philipp Lenssen | Comments (1+27)

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