Google's most chilling Big Brother scenario yet

August 16, 2010 • ComputerWorld.com

Plenty of people have worried that because of the amount of information Google knows about people, it could become an Orwellian Big Brother. Google CEO Eric Schmidt recently took a look at Google's future, and it's more Big Brotherish than you can imagine. How about Google knowing what you think before you do yourself? That's in the cards, Schmidt believes. Schmidt was interviewed by the Wall Street Journal this past weekend, and the interview was a wide ranging one, from the success of Android, to Google's controversial stand on net neutrality, and beyond. Most interesting, though, and most frightening, was Schmidt's vision of the future of Google's search capabilities. The interviewer notes that one day the Google search box will "no longer will be at the center of our online lives." The interviewer then asks Schmidt how Google will respond to that. Schmidt's answer starts off thoughtful, and ends up chilling.