The Wall Street Journal interviewed Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt on the latest news reported by the Washington Post that the NSA has been going behind the back of Google and Yahoo and infiltrating their data centers around the world. The first few questions in the video below address the issue.
A rough transcript, with help from the WSJ article here.
“It’s really outrageous that the National Security Agency was looking between the Google data centers, if that’s true. The steps that the organization was willing to do without good judgment to pursue its mission and potentially violate people’s privacy, it’s not OK. It’s just not OK. So, in that sense the Snowden have assisted us in understanding that. It’s perfectly possible that there are more revelations to come.”
“…We [Google] have complained to many many people, starting with the National Security Agency, the president, the vice president, you name it, as well as the Congress. There is legislation that’s begin discussed in the Congress. And I think it just doesn’t pass the smell test.
“The NSA allegedly collected the phone records of 320 million people in order to identify roughly 300 people who might be a risk. It’s just bad public policy…and perhaps illegal.”
“You have to take a strong position in favor of privacy. Privacy is really the right to be left alone. Do you really want the government tracking all of those information, especially if you’re just a domestic citizen who is just going about your life?”
“There clearly are cases where evil people exist, but you don’t have to violate the privacy of every single citizen of America to find them.”