Google CEO Eric Schmidt doesn't reveal much about himself on his home page.
But spending 30 minutes on the Google search engine lets one discover that Schmidt, 50, was worth an estimated $1.5 billion last year. Earlier this year, he pulled in almost $90 million from sales of Google stock and made at least another $50 million selling shares in the past two months as the stock leaped to more than $300 a share. He and his wife Wendy live in the affluent town of Atherton, Calif., where, at a $10,000-a-plate political fund-raiser five years ago, presidential candidate Al Gore and his wife Tipper danced as Elton John belted out "Bennie and the Jets."
Schmidt has also roamed the desert at the Burning Man art festival in Nevada, and is an avid amateur pilot. That such detailed personal information is so readily available on public Web sites makes most people uncomfortable. But it's nothing compared with the information Google collects and doesn't make public. Assuming Schmidt uses his company's services, someone with access to Google's databases could find out what he writes in his e-mails and to whom he sends them, where he shops online or even what restaurants he's located via online maps. Like so many other Google users, his virtual life has been meticulously recorded.
News source: C|Net News.com
But spending 30 minutes on the Google search engine lets one discover that Schmidt, 50, was worth an estimated $1.5 billion last year. Earlier this year, he pulled in almost $90 million from sales of Google stock and made at least another $50 million selling shares in the past two months as the stock leaped to more than $300 a share. He and his wife Wendy live in the affluent town of Atherton, Calif., where, at a $10,000-a-plate political fund-raiser five years ago, presidential candidate Al Gore and his wife Tipper danced as Elton John belted out "Bennie and the Jets."
Schmidt has also roamed the desert at the Burning Man art festival in Nevada, and is an avid amateur pilot. That such detailed personal information is so readily available on public Web sites makes most people uncomfortable. But it's nothing compared with the information Google collects and doesn't make public. Assuming Schmidt uses his company's services, someone with access to Google's databases could find out what he writes in his e-mails and to whom he sends them, where he shops online or even what restaurants he's located via online maps. Like so many other Google users, his virtual life has been meticulously recorded.
News source: C|Net News.com
Minimum System Requirements
- 233 MHz Intel Pentium class or better processor
- At least 128 MB of RAM
- Windows 2000 or XP
Recommended System Configuration
For viewing 640x480 standard definition (SD) H.264 video:
- 1.8 GHz Intel Pentium 4 or faster processor
- At least 256 MB of RAM
- 64 MB or greater video card
- Windows 2000 or XP
New features in QuickTime 7 Player for Windows:
- H.264 video playback. Watch movies created with this state-of-the-art, standards-based codec, which delivers exceptional-quality video.
- Surround sound. With QuickTime 7, your PC, and surround speakers, you can enjoy the full effect of your surround sound game or movie.
- New and improved playback controls. Easily change settings including jog shuttle, playback speed, bass, treble, and balance.
- Zero-configuration streaming. QuickTime automatically determines your optimal Internet connection speed and reconnects dropped connections.
- Live resize. Playback continues smoothly as you change the size of the QuickTime Player window
New features in QuickTime 7 Pro for Windows:
- Create H.264 video. Create incredible-looking video for any use, from 3G for mobile devices to HD.
- Create surround audio. Create a rich multimedia experience by adding multichannel audio to your movie.
- Floating controls. Easily access functions like pause, play, fast-forward, and rewind while watching full-screen movies.
- Background exporting. Export your movie in the background and continue with your next playback or editing task.
- Improved movie authoring. The all-new Movie Properties facilitates simple and efficient movie authoring.
- Automate with VB Script. Automate your QuickTime workflow with native VB Script support in QuickTime 7. Developers can also use VB Script to access the new QuickTime Active X control for creating custom multimedia applications.
Just like someone with access to hotmail's database could access your emails? Or your isp, if you use their email, for that matter?
Last edited by 87092 on 14 Jul 2005 - 20:03
This is a good read
http://news.com.com/2303-10915_3-5788547.html?part=rss&tag=5788547&subj=news
Completely irrelevant!
What?? Where?? Google's privacy policy generally states that private information isn't recorded, and only anonymous data is sent whenever something must be sent. And they'd be in deep trouble if they were lying in their privacy policy.
What IS the story about? Do they have anything at all to support their claims that Google is recording private information about users? Having your search terms be sent to Google for them to perform a serach on them doesn't imply they're recorded. Or are they just talking about the Google Cache? Well, that cache only caches public web pages, and respects robots.txt. If you don't want your private information to get stored in Google's cache, then don't publish it on public web pages for the world to see (which includes Google, shocking huh). Kinda d'oh...
Of course they have the position to do so, like Yahoo and Microsoft, but whether they CAN do it and ACTUALLY do it are two totally unrelated questions, and personally I'm happy as long as they aren't revealed to ACTUALLY do it. Why this sudden outburst in paranoia on CNET news? This has been able to be said the last 10 years of Internet. Do I worry about Digital having built and use a huge database of our past search histories on Altavista? Of course not...
Of course. And if earth was to collide with a huge meteor, much of the life here would be wiped out. Big bad scenario huh. Run for your lives. :p Heck, since I don't even know what harm this information would do to me, I can make this job far easier for them right now: I'm a healthy 26 year old male weighing 150 pounds, with currently unfortunately a not too active sex life, I'm born christian, I'm making good enough money right now to be pleased about it, and I buy mostly computer hardware online and little other things which I prefer to buy the more traditional ways.
Last edited by 21023 on 14 Jul 2005 - 20:27
I'm glad you asked too because I seriously read it and had to check the date to ensure that it wasn't April 1st.
An author takes three pages to reveal that things you enter into a search engine are recorded and the things you state about yourself over the web might be searchable via search engines? Well, give that author a research grant so that he might discover more secrets of the plainly obvious. There was I blissfully believing that Google knew by instinct what was personal information and what wasn't without me having to think about it. Damn, I need to rethink my strategy.
That 'article' is, without any doubt, one of the most pointless, opinionated, and paranoia-driven articles I think I've ever read via Neowin.
There's no doubt a damn sight more revealed about you in the trash you throw out. Are you going to stop throwing out your trash?
Last edited by 33613 on 15 Jul 2005 - 09:04
What's you're definition of invasion of privacy? Do you only consider it an invasion of privacy when they have camera in your house and filming you every where you go? The 2nd part is already happening in most city center and shopping mall.
If they know where you work, eat, shop then they can build up a profile of you. I'd consider it to qualify as invasion of my privacy.
Last edited by 22381 on 15 Jul 2005 - 00:45
Seriously, you people need to get a life.
Commenting has either been disabled on this article or you are not logged in. Click here to login or register, its free!
Note: Anonymous commenting is disabled in order to keep the quality of responses to a high standard.