Google CEO Eric Schmidt assured millions of users during the South by Southwest festival in Austin that their personal information was safe with the web giant.
Microsoft's "Scroogled" campaign notwithstanding, Google's CEO Eric Schmidt assured millions of users Friday, at the SXSW (South by Southwest) event that their personal data was safe within the web giant's servers. The assurance from Google is significant as data security is a major concern in today's world .
Schmidt made the announcement at the SXSW event, as he spoke with Google's director of Ideas, Jaren Cohen, about several other things. According to Schmidt, Google took extra measures to ensure safety of users' personal information after Edward Snowden exposed classified internet surveillance programs such as PRISM to the public.
"We're pretty sure right now that the information that's inside of Google is safe from any government's prying eyes, including the US government's... We were attacked by the Chinese in 2010, we were attacked by the NSA in 2013. These are facts," Schmidt said during the event, reports the Guardian.
Schmidt said Google was concentrating on improving encryption technology to improve Internet connectivity in government controlled countries like Iran.
Schmidt said in a different conference in Santa Monica, Calif., that the future holds good for artificial intelligence. The company acquired startups, including DeepMind, which specializes in artificial intelligence, Boston Dynamics, a robotics company with deep ties with the Pentagon and DARPA, Meka, maker of robotic faces that mimic human emotions and Schaft, creates robots that can be used during rescue operations.
"The biggest thing will be artificial intelligence," Schmidt said at Oasis: The Montgomery Summit, according to Bloomberg. "Technology is evolving from asking a question to making a relevant recommendation. It will figure out things you care about and make recommendations. That's possible with today's technology."
As for data security of the users, other web companies like Yahoo encrypted its users' personal information with extra layers of protection. Google, however, was the first to initiate encryption of Gmail service in 2010. The web giant completed its encryption program in November last year, said a Google engineer in a Google+ post.