Google CEO Eric Schmidt stated at the Techonomy Conference in Lake Tahoe, California, alarming things about user privacy, reports PC World. In short, there is an unimaginable amount of data about us on the internet.
A large part of it has been created by us through social networks, blogs, and other means, and we are completely unprepared to face the consequences. Schmidt said that by 2003, five exabytes of information had been collected, and today that much is collected every two days. The pace is accelerating, and people are not prepared for the technological revolution that awaits us. He is convinced that with the help of artificial intelligence, by observing enough of your communications on the internet and your location, he can predict where you will go and determine who you are using 14 of your photographs. Do you think there are not 14 of your photographs on the internet? People think it is very useful that some devices remember what you want to do because it is easily forgotten, but society is not ready to answer the questions that will arise from the information created by users, he continues.
Schmidt did not want to predict a catastrophe like in the movies and emphasized that the explosion of information can have many advantages. He is right: access to a vast amount of data has changed lives for everyone – it will continue to do so. Of course, Google seems to have an insatiable hunger for data, sometimes overdoing it in their collection, but its CEO did not comment on that. The upside of the vast amount of data is the immediate ability to obtain information about almost everything, while the downside is that your employer, insurer, or the state can compile your profile. For example, your participation in a political forum could be a reason for not getting a job, and due to your blog comments about illness, your insurer could terminate your policy.
