Google's Schmidt Roasted for Privacy Comments

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Google’s CEO is still catching crap over the comments he made about online privacy. I am amazed that no one has asked Google how any data could be made available to the authorities, Patriot Act or not, if the company didn’t keep customer data in the first place.

"If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place, 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 are all subject in the United States to the Patriot Act. It is possible that that information could be made available to the authorities."
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If he isn't overly honest upfront, someone will sue him. At least this way no one can say they didn't know. People never complain how easy it is to get what they need from google... guess you can't have it both ways.
 
It is a very childish, naive and arrogant statement. I hope this costs them big time.
 
wrangler said:
It is a very childish, naive and arrogant statement. I hope this costs them big time.
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yeah, except you fail to remember the majority of people will never hear this. Even in the event they do they would shrug it off, or not completely understand the ramifications of said statement.

Unfortunately laws and policies and marketing as well as many other things are directed towards the average idiot, rather than us [H]eavily enlightened individuals.
 
wrangler said:
It is a very childish, naive and arrogant statement. I hope this costs them big time.
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Its actually brutally honest, much more than I'd expect from someone in his position. It is incredibly shitty but I'm glad I at least know the reality of the situation. Before that I had little idea of the extent to which Google kept tabs on user data.
 
once again: i hope his democratic republican values have him end up in a forced labor prison camp... since he participates in turning in minorities, religious figures and pro-democratic/republican people into prison camps.

its karma. google is to big to fail right? yawn
 
What most people don't realize is that if Microsoft is instructed, or any other online site within US bounds for that matter, for information about you. They're required to get it or face legal penalty themselves. Google keeps your info longer, so what? Are you really that scared or paranoid? If you are, you probably have good reason to be, and that's not a friendly comment.
 
Thought everyone knew this already. Why the surprise? Thought it was an open well known fact.

Google can have my data in exchange for free services. Not like I have ever bought anything from a banner.
 
I don't understand the attitude that says "you wouldn't worry about it if you weren't doing something wrong".

That is so myopic, childish and naive as to be almost be retarded. What is it that causes you to assume that a person's desire for privacy involves immoral or criminal behavior?

There are so many ways for information about you and the sites you visit to be twisted and used in a nefarious and manipulative manner that it boggles the mind.
 
wrangler said:
What is it that causes you to assume that a person's desire for privacy involves immoral or criminal behavior?
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That's a very good point. I don't think anyone should ever question the idea of "wanting privacy". The real question is, how much privacy is reasonable?
 
If our justice system didnt suck we wouldnt need privacy. Like if you google how to get away with murder, then your GF ends up murdered. This type of shit would be used in court and morons would totally take it in to consideration.

But in this country its you proving your innocence instead of them proving you guilty. Your already guilty. So yeah google dude is a dipshit.
 
wrangler said:
It is a very childish, naive and arrogant statement. I hope this costs them big time.
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Say what? Google is a search engine. Things you upload & post can be found by this search engine. As a company based and operating in the United States, they are bound by the laws of this country.

I think its childish and naive to believe that they are somehow different then any other company. If you go and buy a bunch of chemicals from a brick and mortar store, the government has the ability to have that store hand over your personal purchase details as as well as from the credit card company. So if your not comfortable doing that action and the possible consequences or your not prepared to answer for those actions then dont do it.

The truth is that many people do things that they think are immoral. Many people look at questionable material on the Internet, thats why in the big picture it doesnt matter. Your not as special as you think you are. Yes if you look up "how to get away with murder" or "can arsenic be detected in a human body" and your girlfriend then dies from arsonic poisoning, count me as one of the morons that thinks thats pretty damning.
 
The first signs of facism. This is what corporatocracy gets you.

Well, his name is Schmidt, wouldn't be surprised to see a copy of Mein Kampf on his desk.
 
westrock2000 said:
Say what? Google is a search engine. Things you upload & post can be found by this search engine. As a company based and operating in the United States, they are bound by the laws of this country.

I think its childish and naive to believe that they are somehow different then any other company. If you go and buy a bunch of chemicals from a brick and mortar store, the government has the ability to have that store hand over your personal purchase details as as well as from the credit card company. So if your not comfortable doing that action and the possible consequences or your not prepared to answer for those actions then dont do it.

The truth is that many people do things that they think are immoral. Many people look at questionable material on the Internet, thats why in the big picture it doesnt matter. Your not as special as you think you are. Yes if you look up "how to get away with murder" or "can arsenic be detected in a human body" and your girlfriend then dies from arsonic poisoning, count me as one of the morons that thinks thats pretty damning.
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I wasn't really speaking to the differences between Google as a search provider and your local hardware store. If you don't see the difference between looking up arsenic and actually going out and buying it, well......

For someone to say, "if your not doing anything wrong then you shouldn't worry about whether or not you have privacy" which is basically what he is saying, is a naive, arrogant and childish outlook. Or, it is pure evil. Take your pick.
 
jwalk6 said:
The first signs of facism. This is what corporatocracy gets you.

Well, his name is Schmidt, wouldn't be surprised to see a copy of Mein Kampf on his desk.
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Both of Google's founders are Jewish. I doubt that there are any copies of Mein Kampf anywhere.
 
wrangler said:
What is it that causes you to assume that a person's desire for privacy involves immoral or criminal behavior?
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The entity from and conditions under which privacy is desired.

The only time this would ever be used would be when there is either a warrant or other legal/criminal matter at hand.

If something that is only used during criminal investigations frightens you, you are either doing something illegal, or have schizophrenia (and need help).
 
Guess I've watched too many Hogan's Heroes reruns. Didn't think Shmidt was a Jewish name.

Stilll, Jewish people can be facist too.

I'm equal opportunity...
 
jwalk6 said:
Guess I've watched too many Hogan's Heroes reruns. Didn't think Shmidt was a Jewish name.

Stilll, Jewish people can be facist too.

I'm equal opportunity...
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lol

Actually, I'm not sure of Scmidt's ethnicity, not that it is important other than to discuss whether there would be a copy of Mein Kampf around, but Sergy Brin and Larry Page if my memory serves are both Jewish.

Once again to the people who believe that this information is only for the advancement of law enforcement and would only be used in the pursuit of a criminal you are naive. I would even venture to say uninformed.
 
This guy is just giving us fair warning, and he's being honest about it. I don't see anything wrong with what he says, and it's very far from childish. It's basically what we're agreeing to when we use that search engine, and if we don't like it, we don't have to use the search engine.

The real issue to take up here is the Patriot Act, and that isn't this guy's fault - that would be weapon of mass destruction George Bush's fault. Believe it or not, google didn't want to give up its information to the government. http://news.cnet.com/Should-Google-be-forced-to-hand-over-data/2009-1028_3-6049744.html Stop hating on the wrong target, people. It's the gooberment you're after. :)
 
The fact that people are shocked over this is really strange to me. The only thing that I found out of the norm about it was that a suit would be so blunt and tell it like it is.

We have know for a very long time that what we do online can be tracked, and that information is being collected for use in advertising ,law enforcement, and God knows what. He really spoke the truth in that if you aren't doing anything wrong you don't have to worry.

I could really give a damn if they know what I am searching for, and that information can be used to profile me. The government listening on phone conversations was more of a privacy violation to me than anything, and the warrant less wiretapping that was news years ago got a knee jerk from me. This not so much..
 
I heard that Google keeps all info permanently, is that true?

What if something you do online is 100% legal now, but in the future becomes a crime?

Also, the unknowns at the top can use all this tech/info against you, but can you use it or have access to it in your own defense?

There is no reason for them to gather any data, sales and marketing was around long before the internet
and it did fine. Hell I would say things were better back then because companies had to ask the comsumers what they wanted.
 
Wow, a lot of people really trust the system. You really think that there's no need for privacy? Anybody should be able to go through your life, online or otherwise, at any time and pass judgement on you? Have you ever heard of McCarthyism?
 
Wow first off McCarthyism is the accusing of people of disloyalty without evidence. The word you are looking for is Orwellian, which has many means along this subject. But regardless, yes this is something all people should already know and yet still be pissed off about. Then the discussion changes to Tor and Proxies, but we have all been down that road before. You can't blame the Goog they tried to fight for your rights before but failed to the abomination that is called the Patriot Act. Google even gives you the option to surf incognito (Shift+Ctrl+N) which has been tested for all you paranoid people out there.
 
Arigo said it best.. don't blame Google, look to your government that's been passing down items such as the Patriot Act.. a complete violation of our civil liberties.
 
So then bob what search engine do you use? I mean I remember back in 2006 Bush Administration Demands Search Data; Google Says No; AOL, MSN & Yahoo said yes, wait wait you use Bing. So you use a shity search engine and still have your data tracked and recorded.

Oh wait there is ixquick.com (startpage.com) that earned an European Privacy Seal, which most likely is a bunch of shit. Because when you think of privacy, Europe is not the first place that comes to mind. But then you deal with censored results and that are extremely slow. Yeah they don't record your IP, but It doesn't really matter if a search engine records this information you still have your URL's recorded by your ISP. And guess what, the US government regularly forces ISPs to hand over these logs.

So really there is a common problem here, and it is not your search engine or your ISP.
 
CMD said:
I heard that Google keeps all info permanently, is that true? What if something you do online is 100% legal now, but in the future becomes a crime?
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It wouldn't be retroactive.

CMD said:
Also, the unknowns at the top can use all this tech/info against you, but can you use it or have access to it in your own defense?
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Absolutely, yeah.
 
bacon said:
The fact that people are shocked over this is really strange to me. The only thing that I found out of the norm about it was that a suit would be so blunt and tell it like it is.
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Pretty much this. While they will keep your private information private, when the law gets involved, you can't rely on any search provider to withhold information they have a warrant to obtain. Simply because it was Google's Schmidt that said it, and not any other search provider higher-up, doesn't make a scrap of difference.
 
bacon said:
The fact that people are shocked over this is really strange to me. The only thing that I found out of the norm about it was that a suit would be so blunt and tell it like it is.

We have know for a very long time that what we do online can be tracked, and that information is being collected for use in advertising ,law enforcement, and God knows what. He really spoke the truth in that if you aren't doing anything wrong you don't have to worry.

I could really give a damn if they know what I am searching for, and that information can be used to profile me. The government listening on phone conversations was more of a privacy violation to me than anything, and the warrant less wiretapping that was news years ago got a knee jerk from me. This not so much..
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The problem with the "if you're not doing anything wrong" argument is that the rules keep changing. Remember when you didn't have to worry about getting sued by the RIAA if you played a song at a birthday party? Now it's considered a public performance.

I have zero faith in the good intentions of anyone that claims to be working on behalf of my better interests. Especially if I didn't ask them to.

:cool:
 
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