Google CEO: "Privacy worries are for wrong-doers", Firefox CEO recommends changing search engines

[thewayne]

The CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt, says that "If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place," Schmidt tells CNBC" ...

The original article in The Register: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/12/07/schmidt_on_privacy/

The Slashdot thread: http://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/12/08/0127219/Google-CEO-Says-Privacy-Worries-Are-For-Wrongdoers?art_pos=8

On the surface, maybe he's right. But here's where I stand: even though I (or you) might not have anything to hide, that doesn't give you (or me) the right to poke in to my personal, private life. Everyone's done something they're ashamed of, things that they don't want advertised, but it is probably more in the realm of embarrassing than illegal, and there's pretty much zero chance of cleaning it up if it gets online. But I don't care to make my life an open book and you don't have the right to poke in to it.

As a result of Schmidt's quote, the Director of Community development at Mozilla, the makers of the Firefox browser, is encouraging people to use Microsoft's Bing search engine instead of Google.

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/12/11/0541259/Mozilla-Exec-Urges-Switch-From-Google-To-Bing?art_pos=7


Now, I've been concerned about Google's reach for a long time. I'm not a fan of Microsoft because of MS's "crush all competitors, or buy them out" mentality, but corporate America (and maybe the world) no longer compete on quality of innovation. I'm not a fan of Bing because of interface issues, I prefer Yahoo search and occasionally use Google. Google has a corporate ethos of "Do no evil", which I read as mainly directed as support of the open source software movement and as a slap in Microsoft's face. But all it takes is one change in management and Google has huge amounts of information that could be sold to marketers.

But the CEO of Google saying 'lead a lily-white life and you have nothing to worry about' is just plain stupid.

Comments

[deborak]

Google got on my shit list wayyyyy before this bout of stupid, lol. I like Bing. Been using it since it became available.

[moiraj.livejournal.com]

I really really hate the assertion that if you have nothing to hide, you don't feel the need for privacy. (It's as stupid as the belief that if you're innocent, you don't need a lawyer.) It's not about whether I've done something wrong, it's about my right to control what kind of information about me is shared, regardless of the reasons. If I don't want people to know blue is my favourite colour, than no one has the right to know my favourite colour.

Another analogy: I have nothing illegal in my house; no drugs, no dead bodies, no child pornography. Does that mean I should be fine with any stranger wandering in whenever he feels like it?

grrr

[silveradept]

Well, "Do No Evil" has certainly taken it in the pants. Hearing that quote from a Google Guy makes me wonder how much of the media cabals have tainted the place.