Google CEO Eric Schmidt warned that young people will need to change their names to avoid their internet past.
Schmidt claims that the personal lives of young people are so thoroughly documented on social networks like Twitter and Facebook that it will be necessary for them to change their names to hide from their online history.
Schmidt told the Wall Street Journal that people do not understand the consequences of having everything they do online recorded all the time by internet sites.
He also said that he believes that people will be allowed to change their names to avoid embarrassing information and pictures posted on their friends’ social network profiles.
[ Side observation: Searchable facial recognition software will make changing your name and identity a moot point, short of changing your physical appearance. Ironically, Google has invested heavily in facial recognition technology as well. ]
Schmidt also predicted that at some point Google will know so much about people that the search engine will be able to help users plan their lives.
Google will be able to use people’s profiles along with location-based tracking via smart phones and online activities to keep users informed about their surroundings and daily tasks.
Google wants to personalize and automate search to the point where it can predict what people need to find out about before they even think to search for it.
Schmidt ventured into Aldous Huxley-style Brave New World territory by saying: “I actually think most people don’t want Google to answer their questions. They want Google to tell them what they should be doing next.”
Google will know who you are, what your interests are and who your friends are and use this personal data to make suggestions for you.
This isn’t the first time Google’s CEO has made controversial statements on amount of personal data it collects on people through the internet. Last year, he stated: “If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.”
Remember, these are only his public comments on the subject and probably represent just the tip of the iceberg of what Google’s future search plans involve. Interesting stuff, indeed.
[ Source: Telegraph.co.uk ]