Google CEO Says Privacy Worries Are For Wrongdoers

bonch writes "In a surprising statement to CNBC, Google CEO Eric Schmidt told reporter Maria Bartiromo, 'If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place.' This will only fuel concerns about Google's behavior as it becomes an ever more powerful gatekeeper of information; though Google says it is aware of these concerns and has taken steps to be transparent to users about the information that is stored."

Comments

Re:Context?

[computational super]

The serfs were taxed upon getting married, taxed for the birth of each child and for every death in the family. They were taxed for planting a tree in their yard and for keeping animals. They were taxed for religious festivals and for public dancing and drumming, for being sent to prison and upon being released. Those who could not find work were taxed for being unemployed, and if they traveled to another village in search of work, they paid a passage tax.

Hell, we're not that far off. Give Obama another 7 years...

Re:Don't be evil?

[Ash Vince]

They're being "nicer" than any other multi-billion corp I can name.

This is the most insightful part of your post. I personally so them doing plenty of stuff that I consider to be "evil" but so do all companies that reach their level of success. When I look at the company on balance they are still more aligned with my morals than any of their competitors in search. If there are any other search engines that produce the same quality of results and have a more friendly attitude please post some links (not yahoo or bing please, joke posts not needed).

There have been maybe ten stories about Google becoming "the evil empire" in the last week or so. It seems to be a running theme right now.

It will be for some time as well, they have just been too successful too quickly and without absorbing enough of the corporate crony-ism that they should have done. This has resulted in them coming out on the "wrong" side of the fence on some key issues like net-neutrality.

The whole way they floated on the stock exchange in the first place pissed of a lot of corporate america as well since they tried to make it a level playing field for people buying in. Normally Wall Street like to get first dibs then throw a few scraps out to the public. This means that the people who block vote the shares the investment banks own then get a hefty say in running your company.

Google has done too many things their own way so they have made it known that they are not a team player in corporate land. As result of this there have been many people sitting around waiting for an excuse to try and get their own back. They now see the Microsoft - AT&T sponsored "Google is bad for privacy" campaign as a way back.

Remember - The reason nobody wanted to buy their search engine in the first place was because everyone else in the market preferred the idea of making us only see the results that paid the most. I do wonder whether the other search engines have actually changed their minds permanently, or if it is just to keen users happy while their biggest competitor still shows quality results.

Re:Nothing to hide...

[Twinbee]

So it's what a company does with the information that determines whether they're evil or not. If google are just using to increase the relevancy of their adverts, that hardly makes it evil.

As for the bacon and eggs thing, one could argue that it's fairer for all on the average if the insurance does go higher up for that person.

Re:Don't be evil?

[LWATCDR]

The best part is that anybody that modded my message down where agreeing with me.