Google CEO: Our Policy - 'Get Right Up To The Creepy Line'..We know where you are, where you've been

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Google CEO: Our Policy Is To 'Get Right Up To The Creepy Line'



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/04/eric-schmidt-google-creepy_n_748915.html

Google CEO Eric Schmidt offered a look at how Google approaches its users and how he sees technology shaping our behavior in the years to come at the Washington Ideas Forum, an event held late last week.

Google's policy, he explained, is to get as close as possible to the "creepy" line without going past it.

"There is what I call the creepy line," he said, according to The Hill. "The Google policy on a lot of things is to get right up to the creepy line and not cross it."

Schmidt was asked by The Atlantic's James Bennet about the possibility of Google developing a kind of "implant" in the future.

"I would argue that implanting something in your brain is beyond the creepy line," he replied, according to The Hill's transcript, "at least for the moment, until the technology gets better."

He remarked that Google's culture is such that he would know if such a technology were in development, but that, "As far as I know, we do not have a medical lab working on implants." He added, "As far as I know. I will check after this."

As for how Google will serve its users, he noted, "With your permission you give us more information about you, about your friends, and we can improve the quality of our searches...We don't need you to type at all. We know where you are. We know where you've been. We can more or less now what you're thinking about."

Bennet also asked Schimdt about his concept of "augmented humanity," which Schmidt described at the recent TechCrunch Disrupt conference, and asked the CEO about how people will interact with computers in the future.

"Ultimately, if you take this forward some decades, it's obvious that the computers will be our assistants, that they will wander around with us, if you will, they'll know where we are, they'll care what we're doing," Schmidt said. "They'll be able to track all these kinds of things...This means, for example, you don't need to remember as much as you used to."

Learn more about Schmidt's vision of the future.

WATCH: via The Atlantic - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/04/eric-schmidt-google-creepy_n_748915.html

[Renew Deal]

1. So they won't be sending cameras into each persons house and using technology to identify items

in the home?

[kenny blankenship]

2. I would argue that implanting something in your brain is beyond the creepy line,

I feel so reassured now. They're holding off until the technology is mature.

(I wonder which side of the creepy line he thinks he's on?)

[TBF]

4. Maybe they should do their implantations in his head first.nt

[metapunditedgy]

3. "Don't be... any more evil than is profitable." n/t

[Snarkoleptic]

5. Use Ixquick instead! Free and they don't record your IP!

http://www.ixquick.com/
Here's more from their website-

Ixquick Protects Your Privacy !
The only search engine that does not record your IP address.

Your privacy is under attack every time you use a regular search engine, your search data are recorded.
Your search terms, the time of your visit, the links you choose, your IP address and your User ID cookies all get stored in a database.

The identity profiles that can be constructed from this cloud of information represent modern day gold for marketers.
But government officials, hackers and even criminals also have an interest in getting their hands on your personal search data.
And sooner or later they will...

--snip--

Ixquick's position:
You have a right to privacy.
Your search data should never fall into the wrong hands.
The only real solution is quickly deleting your data or not storing them to begin with.
Since January 2009 we do not record our users' IP addresses anymore.
Your personal data are not shared with any third party.
We are the first and only search engine to do so.
Since then we have added many other features that protect your privacy.
Our initiative is receiving an overwhelmingly positive response!

Ixquick will wholeheartedly continue on its mission to offer you great search results in the best possible privacy!

[tavalon]

6. I thought their policy was "do no evil"

Guess that was so last century.