Big Brother

These days it's almost an everyday occurrence to read about Facebook data privacy missteps, Russian hacking of U.S. government computers, Chinese hacking of Google's servers or, this past week, 25,000 private medical records showing up at the dump.

And then there's Google and the "search for the future."

In today's Wall Street Journal interview with CEO Eric Schmidt you can get a good idea about how your privacy will be managed in the near future.  And it won't happen because you asked for it.

'We're trying to figure out what the future of search is,' Mr. Schmidt acknowledges. 'I mean that in a positive way. We're still happy to be in search, believe me. But one idea is that more and more searches are done on your behalf without you needing to type.'

'I actually think most people don't want Google to answer their questions,' he elaborates. 'They want Google to tell them what they should be doing next.'

"Let's say you're walking down the street. Because of the info Google has collected about you, 'we know roughly who you are, roughly what you care about, roughly who your friends are.' Google also knows, to within a foot, where you are. Mr. Schmidt leaves it to a listener to imagine the possibilities: If you need milk and there's a place nearby to get milk, Google will remind you to get milk. It will tell you a store ahead has a collection of horse-racing posters, that a 19th-century murder you've been reading about took place on the next block."

Roughly, mind you.