VIEWER VOICESCOMMENTS & ANSWERS TO FAREED’S QUESTION OF THE WEEK 12-6(to remove your name or entire comment please email webmaster)

Last week we asked “Does Google scare you or fascinate you? Do you distrust its omni-presence in our lives and its vast database of information?”

65% percent of our viewers wrote in that they are fascinated by the search engine, while only 35% of you said you are scared or distrustful by Google’s “omni-presence.”

Here are some of your responses and comments:

Google scares the hell out of me. I work in defense consulting and volunteerat an organization involved with madrasa reform in Pakistan. In the past two

weeks I've done searches on nuclear power plant security and Pakistaniterrorist organizations. I keep waiting for my trip to Gitmo.Henry Burbridge

I am Asad Jessani and I am 8 years old.I watch your show everyday and I want to anser the following questionDoes Google scare me or fascinate you? Well google fascinates me becausewhenever I have projects in school I take the help of google.thank you very muchregardsAsad Jessani

I think the original Google motto 'Do no evil' has been supplanted, as Googlehas grown more and more successful, into the motto 'Do no evil for Google'.In an earlier age of anit-trust enforcement, the near monopoly power ofMicrosoft was seen as evil for the average consumer (I never completelyagreed with this assessment -- MSFT did a lot to commoditize expensivedesktop software). However, in this new era of applications in the cloud,Google has emerged as the 900 lb. gorilla on the back of a phenomenallysuccessful paid search business (one which they did not even invent unliketheir innovations in web search -- but that's another story). And nobodyseems to mind.Google maintains an enormous amount of information about your personal

habits -- what you search for, buy and browse. This information, we areassured, will be used completely for our benefit. I have no faith in thisassertion. There is a history of Google caving into outside pressures. Lookat:- Google's self-censorship of search results in China,- Google's censorship of sites critical of Islamic fundamentalism,- Google's release of anonymous blogger identitiesand so on. As they get bigger and bigger (and the stakes get higher), it isfoolish and naive to assume that they will look out for the user's interest overtheir own.Paul T. RyanLos Angeles, CA

I'm an adjunct university professor in my 60s. The access toinformation Google provides users is absolutely amazing. Curriculumbuilding that once required me to spend weeks in a university librarynow takes much less time. At the same time, my students are quiteadept at finding information on the Internet, so I've adapted myteaching to their needs. The lack of oversight in the virtual worldallows cranks to emote as well as experts. It enhances the abilityto monger fear. Those of us who teach, regardless of the subject,must instruct our students on the use of the Internet. How do weidentify trustworthy sites? What elements of Internet information

should alert us to the possibility of fear mongering? How can we usethe Internet honestly as a research tool without , inadvertentlycommitting plagiarism? Like any other tool, we must learn to use theInternet, via Google or otherwise, intelligently.Patricia Dunlap, Ph.D

I my opinion, you can not trust Google. Their methods of data collecting arenot tolerable. But the empire Google has built can not be stopped because it isa sector controlling company. You do not have a lot of alternatives. Yahoo,MSN and such companies are just minor competitives. Google is usually onestep ahead. I do not like its vast database of information and user data it hascollected for years, but I will keep using Google anyway because of themissing alternative. And I think that is what most people do. Google makes thework easier. A platform which combines all functions you need. If we knewwhat Google is using its data for, we would probably feel reassured.Lukas FischerGermany

As a Library and Information Science (LIS) educator, I am fascinated by thehold that Google has over information users--all information users from thelayman to the expert, the information illiterate to the information lazy. I alsodistrust its omni-presence and its devouring database, especially Google'scomplete disregard of copyright and intellectual property rights (i.e., Google

Books project). Perhaps it is a vast database of information, but in reality itrepresents a small percentage of human knowledge. Many of us wish to seemore discernment on the part of information users and acknowledgment thatGoogle does not represent the epitome of information retrieval. For example,knowledge classification systems, such as those used in libraries, seek toshow relationships between ideas and concepts, not rank informationresources according to popularity. In teaching, I sometimes describe Googleas a 50ft tall toddler that is blindly putting everything into its mouth.Much of what Mr. Schmidt is saying has been the focus of LIS for over a 100years, but Google has never given credit where credit is due.Shawne D. Miksa, Ph.D

Both. Unfortunately I have a laptop with Vista and somehow Google READSmy hard drive and includes that in Google searches at the top of the results.They never said "may I?" I'd have said NO! The new operating system willhold all info on their servers. NO again, but I just won't use it. But what ifsomeone I do business with does and they get my documents via a thirdparty? We all rely on Google but there needs to be a door with a pickprooflock.Alicia AlanMontpellier, France

I absolutely trust Google, and wholeheartedly support it's role in

educating and distributing information around the world. Even thoughthe content can't be controlled, I think allowing more people to havemore access to information will outweigh the dangers of thepropagandists/terrorists who also use these services.Barbara ReeseAtlanta, GA

I adore Google, it is half my brain. Just like Eric Schmidt said, the factsI want slip through the cracks in my brain but they are quickly accessiblewith Google. I'm 74 years old--and so glad I am alive in the computer age.The more forgetful I become, the more useful Google is to me.People's concern with privacy seems to be a non-specific kind of angst, mostof the time they have no particular piece of information that they areconcerned with. There are things about me I prefer to keep private so Inever tell them to anyone, very easy solution.Joan Fahlgren

I love Google and look forward to it's potential. More information means betterdecisions. Of course one should always be skeptical of any information andcheck multiple sources.Mr. Lee Fairbanks

Google is no more frightening than any other major corporation. Corporate

America has shown its lack of ethics or moral center in the past year. Weshould not trust Google more than other iconic corporations. We need to thinkcritically and remember "buyer beware" as we use this engine for our ownneeds. We also need to rely on good news reporting to protect the interests ofthe people. For this we thank you, Fareed, and others like you who work toprovide balanced information to us all.Georgianna MooreMedia, PA USA

It's true that Google may have some incorrect information, but how different isthat from newspapers, magazines, or T.V. news? I think of Google as my ownpersonal encyclopedia. As a child, I always wanted an encyclopedia set, butmy family could not afford one. Now, any time I want an answer to just aboutany question on any subject, I go to Google and read and read and read. It'sTERRIFIC.Ginny BowermanAptos, CA

Yes I am fascinated by Google. It is my favorite search engine and hasenriched my life. However, Eric Schmidt's statement that Google's algorithmsorts through the spin alarmed me. I think it is dangerous for one company tohave so much power. Mr. Schmidt and I seem to have compatible worldviews, and I like his politics but I think history proves that power in the hands

of the few is an unwise path to pursue.Thank you for pointing out that Wikipedia made mistakes in your biography. Ithought you were too easy on Schmidt's lame response to your concern. Iwish you would have pressed him on this with more pointed follow upquestions.After watching today's show I have vowed to minimize my use of Google.Penny NormanOklahoma City

I detest the amount of information Google collects and their motto of "Don'tbe evil" provides scant comfort. The people who run it now; won't alwaysThen what? I wish you would have asked the harder questions!Susann BrinkleyNew York City

I do not fear Google....I fear Eric Schmidt. His utopian view of informationmanagement is neo-Orwellian.

I am frustrated by your failure to challenge Schmidt's premise that there is nolonger a need to memorize because any information can now be looked up.He betrays a total ignorance of the organic brain development processes thatrely upon the task based practice of learning. Aerospace managers recentlyAGAIN lamented in Aviation Week & Space Technology Magazine the serious

decline in American graduating engineers' ability to innovate, imaginesolutions, and generally think out of the box. They explicitly blame thegrowing dependence of America's youth upon preprocessed information andmindless participation-centered computer games.

I am 65 years old and have lived across the transition from human telephoneoperators to all-doing palm computers. I sat in an air terminal recently andrealized I was one of a few who was reading a hard copy magazine; all otherswere "double-thumbing" a pocket electronic game. Text messaging isspawning phonetic spelling and worse...substitution of single letters for wholewords. This causes me to worry for my country's manufacturing and defensesecurity.

Eric Schmidt envisions a global community addicted to an informationintravenous "drip" that will surely facilitate the decay primarily in lazy countriesof which the U.S. is a leader. He verbalized his company's loathing fortotalitarian censorship using vague platitudes; he would have better used yourbandwidth to articulate a plan to implement an information access architecturethat embeds an equivalent of the 1940s-50s science fiction writer IssacAsimov's famous "Three Laws of Robotics."R. Perry WalkerMajor, USAF (Ret)Daniel, Wyoming

I think they sold themselves out when they compromised their own principleswhen deciding to support China's censorship. I am however concerned withother organizations and how they may use the technology. Unfortunatelythere are still those who would use our personal information against us.David DruckermanNew York

I am a regular viewer of your programme since its inception because I used toavidly follow your articles in Newsweek, especially around global issues like9/11.

I am so fascinated by Google; that is why I am writing to you. In the last threeweeks I have read The Google Story and Planet Google, two very interestingbooks, just to know more of what I know. Google, as a private enterprise,gives me confidence that our private information are not only controlled by thesecret security services. Of course, there could be malfeasances, but it hasnothing to do with who holds the information. In fact, we are fortunate that wenow know what we put out there, unlike in the past when we were forced togive information through forms.Google gives me hope of true democracy, especially in Africa.Odoh Diego OkenyodoMaitama, Abuja, Nigeria

How can Google scare me when it was founded by two young computerscience students who through their technical brilliance came up with asearch engine that based on "page ranking" methodology that in essencekeeps us all honest. Of course I am fascinated by Google's innovation,inventiveness, creativity and youthfulness of thoughts. A companythat has so many computer scientists and engineers will never scareme. I will only worry if the day comes when the number of Google'ssalesmen and layers employees exceed their engineers and scientists.Issa

The fact that web sites can track me and record my searches. etcdisturbs me a lot. The info can be put to sinister uses.Victor KamatFremont, CA

Google is the most fascinating machine in my life and career. If you are likeme who has been saved from spending enormous time in openingencyclopedia, articles, volumes of dictionaries, maps and all just to get a word,place, item picture right every time you need it and if you are like who hasbeen saved the cost of telephones to get connected then you wouldappreciate the facilitating power of google.Kanya Williams

Nigeria

I am hopeful that information services like Google can revolutionize the wayin which we collect information, analyze it, document it, and act on it; inrelations to avoiding corruption, and taking action on the most pressingissues of poverty and depravity.Britt RasmussenDenmark

I'm at once fascinated and disturbed by the power of Google: I've come torely on it heavily in my daily life, but I worry that we're beginning toerode the boundaries between information and knowledge - between havingthe "facts" and knowing how to apply them in a meaningful way. As forbecoming a means of undermining the tyranny of power, I wonder who we'llrely on to curb Google's own brand of subtle hegemony. If ever we think aboutrenaming Earth "Planet Google", we know we've gone too far.Greig DouglasPort ElizabethSouth Africa

I am torn! They have access to so much information. Information is power.But I am fascinated by that information what it say about America and theWorld. I would love see that information. We would be able to see the truth

and what we perceive the truth is (maybe). I tend to believe that the truth isrevealed when it is convenient for the party involved (.gov & .com)L&R).Google might disprove (or prove) the saying "Power corrupts, total powercorrupts totally"Vincent Reid

I love google. I use it all the time and could not imagine going back to doingresearch without it. However it does not replace basic and necessary writingskills including spelling and grammar. I was quite disappointed with EricSchmidt's response to your question. What will become of us if people actuallybelieve that Google will replace learning to write?Nancy Lee JobinMontreal, Canada

If not managed properly it may spiral out of control and become a nationalsecurity risk in our home land.Jon HullDelta Junction, Alaska

I love Google - don't know how I lived without it. All the libraries inthe world are open 24/7.! The most wonderful luxury! At 3 AM, I can look upthe history of Alexander the Great and the recipe for Greek lemon soup.ARLENE LOVE

PA age 80

I cringe at the thought that education should revolve around how to pursueknowledge rather than the learning itself. I liken it to the attitude that ispervasive within the NRA community. One of their beliefs is that if we give upthe right to bear arms, we lose the ability to protect ourselves from entities thatmay not have our best interests at heart. I truly believe the pen is mightierthan the sword, so giving up any interest in knowledge and instead relying onsome other entity to just provide that knowledge is DANGEROUS. I alsobelieve in privacy, but that aspect of Google is far less troubling than whatCEO Schmidt said on your show regarding the future of education. At the ripeold age of 35, I wrote my term papers doing research at the library. Googleand other internet sources are excellent supplements to books andperiodicals, but the day that they replace these resources I will trust very fewentities to provide knowledge without conflict of interest. Besides, we needmore smart young people in this world. If there is a blackout or your laptopcrashes, and you can't tell me which side Germany fought for in WWII.....thenare you really smart? Google is a great resource, but it should be but one toolin a vast spectrum of sources regarding knowledge. I apologize if this is arambling message, I am typing it on a mobile phone powered by Google.LOL.James HawkinsHouston, TX

There may be reason to fear Google some day, but at this point they shouldbe lauded for their imaginative approach for capturing and making available allthe information they can possibly gather. I use it constantly to check onstatements I hear on radio and TV by those who are often spinning the 'facts'.I always check several available sources and select sources I trust.It's also important that school students learn to use search engines, likeGoogle, because, before too long, the computer is where students will befinding the information they need for their lessons, rather than books in thelibrary, or even their school books. The sooner they learn to se these tools,the better off they will be.Leon BloomSan Diego

Google scares the hell out of me. Schmidt would have us believe that Googleis some altruistic purveyor of truth and knowledge. The reality is that Googlereceives 97% of its revenue from advertising. Schmidt talks of their searchengine bringing facts to the beginning of a search when the reality is that itbrings the highest paying advertiser to the beginning. Schmidt talks of Googleworking to make life better. The reality is Google only does what will advancetheir ability to get into the minds of its users to feed information to its clients --advertisers. Google provides very useful tools, but hidden in these tools is thesurreptitious collection of personal information to be fed to client advertisers.

Google scares the hell out of me because it is a huge unregulated beast in ahuge unregulated media both of which desperately need regulation, but will bevery difficult to regulate. I couldn't agree with much of anything Schmidt hadto say. He strikes me as a snake oil salesman. I am glad you had him on as itconfirmed my opinion of his company.Ken SchafferKansas City, Missouri

I’m a software engineer and work for a very large computer equipment andnetworking company in Silicon Valley. I am afraid of Google, and am alsoafraid of Microsoft. U.S. society is developing too much dependency on just afew companies. It's not so much the technology, as it is their monopolypower. For the same reason, I fear Goldman Sachs and the other wall streetcompanies that are "too big to fail". They simply have too much power. Theyhave more power than the U. S. government. They can buy legislators andthey can outspend the government in court cases. I believe we have gotten tothe point where anti-monopoly and anti-trust laws are meaningless because(a) the DOJ has not enough money to enforce the laws in court as against thedeep pockets of these huge companies, and (b) there is no will on the part ofthe executive and legislative branches to do anything about it.Marilyn SanderCampbell, California

My biggest concern about the future and role of google is in how we educatepeople today. In my time we were educated to think independently andsystematically for the purpose of solving new problems that we would befacing in the future and I think that I've done pretty good at that. Theneducation shifting to using tools like multi function calculators were thechallenge was to put the data into the correct bucket - the tools andcalculations are so complex that the students don't know how to judge theanswer. In my time I used slide rulers which still require you to place thedecimal point in the right position so you quickly develop a feel for orderof magnitude and hence whether the answer is within the right area. To useinfinite information you need much more wisdom to be able to judge theanswer and I don't believe any tool can be fully trusted. For example, ourrecent financial crisis was largely attributed to Wall St mathematical gurusthat built very complex models with lots of data to calculate credit defaultswap premiums but they assumed house prices could never come down.Tools like search engines are being pushed like punching numbers intocalculators without the understanding of what the information means and howto judge it.Alvin Enns

As a young man who uses many of Google's services, I am fascinated bywhat they are doing and what they may do in the future. The scary partisn't what Google is doing with all the information they collect, it's

what could be done with it. Big Brother may not be watching my everymove or using all of that info against me, but if he should come andwant to do that, the techniques and infrastructure is up and ready forhim. We just have to make sure that next step isn't taken.John Chaffin from Ohio

Google fascinates me and scares me at the same time. I marvel at theamount of information it provides, but I wonder if Google will becomeBig Brother. Will it eventually know more about me than I want it to know?. Arewe all being manipulated by Google? When is says "Don't do evil," how wouldGoogle define evil?Keep up the good work with the show. What a relief to find an interesting newsprogram with a moderator who doesn't have a hidden creed and isn't trying tooutwit or out shout his guests. I like the news quiz and the bookrecommendations.Ann in RI

The threat does not come from information, it is in how the information isused. If our society can study and learn from the information gathered wecan better understand our society. If the information is used for punitivemeasures that reflect one segment of our society's morals then it becomes"big brother". Like all technology, how it's used determines its value.I vote we gather the information and hope we can survive it. The sooner we

start the more our descendents will have to study.Kenneth R. MooreTruth or Consequences, NM

Does Google scare you - yes.It's going the AT&T way. It's becoming a monopoly (in advertising). Ithasn't done anything evil yet, but if their bottom lines start sinking wedon't know where they will go.Vaibhav PuranikLos Angeles

I am amazed , fascinated and at times VERY grateful for Google searchengines ! Many times I have benefited from a frantic search and quickresponse (while on a conference call).And of course some things never change : The old saying "don't believeeverything you read in the papers" applies to the internet as well !!Marianne DaskouCollingswood NJ

For me - Google ranks with "flight" as a life/globe changing creation. Onlytime will tell if it will be used more for good than evil. After all, theWright brothers saw their invention as a war machine not as globaltransport. In the end it is both. The hope for Google is that it educates for

good but it already is a vehicle for the dissemination of hate andmisinformation. One thing is certain - privacy and/or anonymity are alreadyrapidly disappearing. There is an Orwellian component to this as well asbeneficence. It will be impossible (perhaps already is impossible) forreligious fundamentalists and other zealots to maintain some kind ofcultural isolation. The best and worst of mankind's impulses will be ondisplay 24/7 all around the globe.William C. HallDeLand, Florida

A world without Google - UNTHINKABLE!Shirley M. PritchardWestlake VillageCalifornia

What does scare me is the Government moving in and using Google, itssoftware, systems and data etc under some fabricated national securitymandate.Jehu Martin

Google fascinates me. I love it. I started many years ago with gmail, soclean, and now with Chrome browser it's ad free. Now I have my G1 phone,always syncd with my Google account, mail, maps, documents, GPS, iGoogle,

etc., for free. If someone is worried about privacy, there's the dashboard forthat.Hector Rodriguez

In order to answer your question, I confess I am scared of what Eric Schimdtsaid. In my opinion, an intensive use of an internet server like Google, forinstance, could become dangerous. It means: we will not need to use ourmemory any longer, but only a "virtual slave" to deliver us information on atray.

It obviously is very convenient to search information, but we must "remind"there is a room in our brain made to store information i.e.memory. Nobody canand may not get rid of this room because it would be unnatural ; it is the wayall human beings have been built.

Your guest is more a "dystopian" than a "utopian", and even I am 62, I am notin a hurry to live his "Brave New World"...

Thank you very much for your interviews. It really helps me to improve myEnglish vocabularyMiss Marie-Christine KraemerFrance

Certainly fascinated me and still fascinates. I cannot think of a day whenwe can live without googling or mapping with Google. It saves so much ofour time in this complex, information filled world that I am not scaredabout its omni-presence in our lives and its vast database of information aslong as it is secured, and I believe Google has done great job in protectingthe information during the last 10+ years and it will continue to do thesame in the future.Thanks,Ram PCharlotte/NC

Come on, this one is easy! Like all great new technologies or enterprises theseeds for both good and bad are there and ultimately both will grow (in fact,they already have). Also, this genie is out of the box and won't be put back in.The only question involved here is if we will GPS the framework for itsuse before a major problem / catastrophe occurs and therefore be forwardlooking in how we deal with this or like so many things both in the USand rest of the world react after the nasty results.Great show!Anonymous

I never saw a scarier interview. Getting beyond quantifying human behavior,it is utterly shocking for me to hear Schmidt as an analyst on education and

globalism. His ideas are so dated (Chicago School of Business) and we'rewitnessing the complete sacrifice of the US economy for the emerging world.We will slowly see the great nation fade and we may never get it back. But Iassure you there are some very wealthy people who couldn't be happier.Unfortunately, we need the rote learning of spelling and math to build thefoundation for the greater processes of research, investigation andinnovation, just as we still need to manufacture here.Li Bendet

I am both fascinated and scared. What we have to remember is thatGoogle is a BUSINESS. I was definitely captivated by what EricSchmidt had to say. He certainly did seem likable and oh, so earnest.Yet at the same time he is asking us to put an enormous amount oftrust in a corporation that is becoming more powerful each and everyday in myriad ways. It is also more than a bit disconcerting thatGoogle's resources are going to programmers who are developingalgorithms to tell us what is "right" when writers and editors are arebecoming increasingly devalued.Lois TraubPhiladelphia, PA

I think google is a handy tool, but I think it’s part of an era that willdecimate what little culture this country has left. I believe technology, as

far as facebook, twitter, google and that area of technology, is erasing ourhumanness. Our original soul, you could say, will no longer exist. Itfrightens me to think of a time period where humans embrace a non humaninformation source, non human communication , and the fallout that comeswith that. I believe this whole behavior, googling, texting, emailingfacebookings is just humanness breaking apart, and once it's apart longenough, it will be very difficult to repair.Neeny Tyo

Love Google. Not afraid of it. Schmidt seems to truly be afair-minded and honest person who believes in equal access, freedomand democracy. He's right about China, better to engage them andjust the people the truth about the censorship.Thanks for your wonderful show. I'm telling all my friends to settheir TiVos and watch GPS on Sundays.Joe PatrickCoupeville, WA

I welcome the bright, fresh approach to technology that Google offers.Although they are a very profitable company, they do so by providing value viamostly free software and services to the consumer that are outside theparadigm to which we have become accustomed. They continue to do thingsthat make my life easier, fun, and more productive without the stigma of being

robbed by virtue of being the only game in town such as the model underwhich Microsoft operates.Darrell Shuman

Google is the direction sign to where to go to get specific information on aquestion without wasting time. It is a great resource to have at one'sfingertips.Ken, Boston, MA area