Google chief: Govt's duty to create free Net

Google chief executive Eric Schmidt brought some Internet glamour to the Conservative party on Tuesday when he gave a keynote address at their annual conference in Bournemouth.

Schmidt told the audience of party activists and MPs that they had a duty to help create an environment where everyone can freely access data on the Internet. He also acknowledged that the rapid growth of the Web meant that some politicians had concerns.

"The Internet is democratizing knowledge," said Schmidt. "But it's also like a child, testing its powers for the first time. Governments are struggling to work out what to do about it, and they have concerns, such as over privacy."

"My advice is--don't bet against it. Again and again, people forget that the Internet is pervasive and they try and hold back information when the Internet makes everything available," he warned.

Schmidt amused his audience with a tale about how Google's speed of response had literally proved a life-saver to one user. "He typed his symptoms into Google, and got a message back that said: 'You are having a heart attack. Call the emergency services now'. That's why we tell our employees that it's important that Google is fast. Otherwise people die."

The CEO also insisted that "the Internet can, and I hope will, be a revolutionary force in repressive societies".

Earlier this year Google was widely attacked for censoring the search results it supplies to its Chinese users, but it has also refused to hand over data on searches to the U.S. authorities.

But Schmidt won his biggest reaction from the audience when he made a joke about blogging. "Most blogs have precisely one reader--the blogger themself."