Google's Schmidt says UK 'anti-piracy' laws are bad for free speech

INTERNET SEARCH GIANT Google has said that filtering the internet and blocking filesharing web sites would be bad for free speech.

Google's opinion that the UK Government's 'anti-piracy' proposals would be bad for the digital rights of internet users and free speech didn't come from a rogue marketing lackey. It was outspoken Google executive chariman Eric Schmidt who made the statement to journalists at the company's Big Tent conference in London.

According to the Guardian, Schmidt said that filtering the internet and blocking access to filesharing web sites like Pirate Bay would be a "disastrous precedent" for free speech.

Schmidt didn't leave with just one sound bite against the UK's proposals, which are wrapped up in ill conceived regulations like the Digital Economy Act (DEA).

Schmidt went further to explain that Google will fight any hypothetical US regulation that hands governments power of control over the domain name systems (DNS).

But the big kick came for the UK Government as Schmidt drew a parallel between its 'anti-piracy' proposals and China, where Google has effectively been shown the door for maintaining a proactive stance on freedom of speech and a free internet.

"I would be very, very careful if I were a government about arbitrarily implementing simple solutions to complex problems," said Schmidt.

"So, 'let's whack off the DNS'. Okay, that seems like an appealing solution but it sets a very bad precedent because now another country will say 'I don't like free speech so I'll whack off all those DNSs' - that country would be China," he added.

We salute Google's position on free speech and internet freedom, so it's a shame it has been caught red-handed collecting location tracking personal data. µ