Google's Chief defends his privacy comment -- or joke

Eric E. Schmidt, Google's chief executive, has faced some pretty tough critics in the past, defending the companies stance on privacy issues and new features on the Web site, but on Tuesday, he went right into the lion's den when he was a guest on "The Colbert Report" on Comedy Central.

On the show, which is known for its dry and sometimes sarcastic humor, the host, Stephen Colbert, discussed some of the privacy issues associated with Google, including data mining and the secrets of its algorithm.

Mr. Colbert initially asked Mr. Schmidt about Google's ability to remember information about people online and its storing of that information. Mr. Schmidt said, "It's true that we see your searches, but we forget them after a while," to which Mr. Colbert responds, "Uh, huh, and I'm supposed to trust you on that?"

After a few more jokes, Mr. Colbert asked why Google decided to pull out of China, referring to the company's decision to stop operating in the country this year. Mr. Schmidt said the company decided to stop working in China because, "We didn't like their laws." (Mr. Schmidt said it took four years for Google to figure out it didn't like China's laws.)

Finally, Mr. Colbert asked about privacy (loosely paraphrasing a comment Mr. Schmidt made last month): "Now you famously said, and I completely support this, the idea that someday, young people, instead of having privacy for the things they put up on Facebook -- and be able to expunge that since once it's up there it exists forever -- that one day that they'll just erase their histories and change their names and they'll be scot-free," Mr. Colbert said.

Mr. Schmidt's response: "It was a joke."

Mr. Colbert said, "I guess it was too hip for the room."

Mr. Schmidt recognized that it is best to leave the jokes to the comedians.