Acidus wrote: Google CEO Eric Schmidt: "If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place,"
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This was an enormously stupid and hypocritical thing for him to have said, particularly in light of the CNET incident, and it will be requoted and requoted for years to come. However, its worth noting that Google recently created a Dashboard that allows users to control what information is collected about them. A snippet from this news report: Dashboard let me review my Web searches going back to 2006. Long-forgotten queries about airline tickets, books and magazine articles, a new clarinet for my daughter - they’re all still there.
I recommended this when I spoke on the subject of privacy at WWW2007. But its really an extension of Greg Conti's research, in which he developed tools that allow users to see what information Google is collecting. Conti is quoted in that news article. It doesn't really solve the problem - the privacy problem is a collective problem and this is an individual solution. Its more a negotiating position if you will. You insist that you need all this information in order to operate these services - can you at least empower me to see what you've collected and to opt out? On a certain level it provides Google with a way of shunting uncomfortable questions about privacy by allowing concerned people to opt out as it applies to them personally. However, we will face the broader social implications of the privacy problems posed by these systems regardless of whether or not we individually opt out. Nevertheless, I'm glad that Google did this. Its an important step. It could help raise people's awareness. More on the subject here. RE: Fuck You Eric Schmidt | 
