Google CEO Eric Schmidt went on “The Colbert Report” last night, where host Stephen Colbert asked him about search history, computers taking over from humans, China and privacy. Perhaps Schmidt is on tour to combat the Consumer Watchdog videos that portray him as a creepy ice cream man who harvests kids’ data.
Colbert is pretty good on his tech stuff, and the 5-minute video certainly made me giggle. Schmidt says his recent comment about young people changing their names to escape their indiscretions captured on the web was a joke. He also states “We actually don’t do data mining” much more resolutely than I would expect, considering all the ways Google uses data to make its products better.
Colbert: Would you help me erase my browser history?
Schmidt: I would encourage it
Colbert: You have been checking my searches!
Here’s the segment:
| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Eric Schmidt | ||||
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And here’s the creepy ice cream ad:
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