Google CEO Sundar Pichai WG02 rarely speaks in public, but when he does, the world listens. This week, he published a lengthy op-ed in the New York Times about what he says is “one of the most important topics of our time”—privacy. Billions of people across the globe use Google’s many products on a daily basis for everything from email to driving directions to finding a doctor. With increased scrutiny on Big Tech’s vast impact on our lives, Google’s reliance on user data is a source of interest and concern.
Pichai shares that concern, and explains how he’s seen first-hand that “privacy is personal,” and means different things to different people. That’s why, he says, it’s critical for tech companies to give users clear individual choices about their data. Google is guided by two “unequivocal” policies, he writes: “Google will never sell any personal information to third parties; and…you get to decide how your information is used.” Pichai goes on to outline three ways in which his company enforces those principals, and details new privacy features Google unveiled last week. Perhaps his boldest position is a call for Congress to pass a federal law similar to Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation.
To read Pichai’s essay in full, click here.
