Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt said he is hopeful that censorship across globe will end in a decade. Calling it a “game of cat and mouse” between the governments and Internet users, Schmidt suggested a better usage of encryption can beat government surveillance.
In his lecture at Johns Hopkins University Eric Schmidt advocated freedom of speech and urged countries to end censorship.
“First they try to block you; second, they try to infiltrate you; and third, you win. I really think that’s how it works. Because the power is shifted,” Schmidt said.
“I believe there’s a real chance that we can eliminate censorship and the possibility of censorship in a decade.”
Schmidt is vocal about the restricted Internet access around the world. Giving reference to his earlier experience of freedom of speech in North Korea, Schmidt said, “My view is that if we can get some connectivity, then they’ll begin to open the country, they’ll begin to understand other systems.”
After Edward Snowden had revealed that US National Security Agency spying on Google’s communications links, Schmidt had said if true, then the government action was outrageous and potentially illegal.
“The solution to government surveillance is to encrypt everyone,” Schmidt said adding, “With sufficiently long keys and changing the keys all the time, it turns out it’s very, very difficult for the interloper of any kind to go in and do that.”
“It’s pretty clear to me that government surveillance and the way in which governments are doing this will be here to stay in some form, because it’s how the citizens will express themselves, and the governments will want to know what they’re doing,” Schmidt said.
“In that race, I think the censors will lose, and I think that people would be empowered,” he added.
Tags: Edward Snowden Eric Schmidt google government surveillance internet censorship NSA
