Google chairman Eric Schmidt weighed in on surveillance and robots in a panel discussion at South by SouthwestFriday.
He discussed everything from privacy to revolution and the role technology plays in all of it.
Schmidt explained how Google is now encrypting its datacenters against surveillance: “We think your information is very safe from what we view as inappropriate access by foreign and domestic governments.” (Via RT)
“We think” isn’t the most reassuring way to put it, but The Next Web says that’s about as good as it’s going to get.
“While some critics may suggest that ‘pretty sure’ isn’t sure enough, it would be a fool who suggested any system was completely secure in every way with complete certainty.”
Other topics included the dangers of leaking data, with Schmidt warning, “People can be hurt. There’s no way to tell if there’s something in a leak of a million documents that it could get someone killed.” (Via Daily Dot)
And the coming robot industrial revolution, where Schmidt appears to be on the side of our robot overlords.
The Guardian quotes him as saying: “In the automated world, incomes will go up for people who work with computers and work with robots, and they will go down for people who don’t embrace it. And that is a problem.” (Via The Guardian)
Schmidt’s talk comes on day one of South by Southwest. The conference runs through March 16.
