Google: We've a bias towards free speech - Times of India

NEW DELHI: Internet search giant Google may have had well-documented differences with the Indian government about hosting 'objectionable' content but its global chairman, Eric Schmidt, is categorical that the $50-billion company will always have "a bias towards putting stuff up rather than taking it down." "We obviously cannot police everything that is put up on the Net. But, if something objectionable is put up, and it is flagged to us — by the government , or police, or even by private citizens — in each case, we follow the same procedure . If there is a court order against it, we will remove it. If it is stuff that violates our terms of service, like child pornography, we will immediately remove it. But often, there is an issue with laws that are not precise in interpretation . We conduct an internal review at our headquarters in the US, where our experts work closely with the team of the relevant country which sensitizes them to local laws and norms," said Schmidt , who is on a visit to India. "In some cases, if our team says so, we will remove the content. But by and large, we have a bias towards keeping stuff up rather than taking it down," he added. "About 10% of India's population has online access right now. In the next five years, that could explode to 80%. Many more voices will be heard that have not been heard so far. They are likely to be critical, perhaps even angry. But, we believe that the answer to bad speech is more free speech, not less." According to Schmidt, Google follows the same norms all over the world. It consciously decided to pull out of the Chinese mainland, and instead shifted to Hong Kong, which has a less stringent censorship system. "In China, you can't criticize senior party officials or their children, and the authorities get to define what constitutes criticism. If you put up something that crosses the line, you get between 5 and 30 minutes to take it down before the police arrive to toss you into jail. I believe that China's system is a very bad one and I strongly encourage everyone else not to emulate it. Thank God the US doesn't have it, and nor does India," he said. Schmidt, who stepped down as the CEO to take over as the chairman almost two years ago, said the next two years could change the landscape with the advent of $50 (around Rs 2,500) smartphones . Currently vendors are working on $100 smartphones and prices are expected to come down further. Schmidt said Google was actively cooperating with vendors to help bring down prices . It's easy to see why — at 150 million, India already has the world's third largest number of internet users, behind only China and the US. Over the past few months, most of the incremental growth in the number of internet users has come via smart phones. So, a steep drop in smartphone prices could be of extreme strategic benefit to Google. Asked about concerns that Google's various products violate privacy, Schmidt replied, "We know that many people are uncomfortable about the amount of information we have access to, so we act extremely carefully and responsibly to make sure we don't misuse it. Our policies are completely transparent, and if someone still has a problem, he's free not to use our services and switch to our competitors." When asked about a recent campaign by Microsoft urging surfers to switch from Gmail to Outlook to ensure greater privacy, he burst out laughing. "Most of Outlook's clients are switching to Gmail because they feel it offers greater security, so I really don't know what to say about their claim," he said. On Glass, Google's muchanticipated eyewear computer , he said the first batch would be ready this year and would be offered to about a thousand pioneers for testing and feedback . Since it is also capable of filming, wouldn't that again raise privacy concerns? "Most people wearing them in a room will be asked to take them off so that others can try them on," he quipped. But on a more serious note, he said, "If you have a problem, just ask the person to remove it." via Technology - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNHe_3MHwL7V6rA_S1iF9zQwocINOg&url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/tech-news/internet/Google-Weve-a-bias-towards-free-speech/articleshow/19100998.cms

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