When your reaction is "bravo for the daily mail", that's your clue that you've missed something. The full quote is
"I think judgment matters. If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place. But if you really need that kind of privacy, the reality is that search engines, including Google, do retain this information for some time. And it’s important, for example, that we are all subject in the United States to the Patriot Act. It is possible that information could be made available to the authorities."
He was trying to have that conversation years before Snowden's leaks, and look at the reward he got: people claiming he hates privacy even though he's giving you exact information on how google cannot be your confidant when the US government is involved, and to look elsewhere if you need that.
Not many CEOs are that frank, but look what happened. Gawker quoted only that single sentence out of that whole paragraph, and everyone (even the EFF[1]) quoted Gawker, so as far as someone reading those stories would know, that's all he said. With that kind of coverage (and "advocacy" groups like Consumer Watchdog egging it on), we should know exactly why more CEOs don't speak that frankly, and why all we get is corporate non-speak instead.
I disagree, I was fully aware of the context, and your quote in italics.
Here are some more gems:
"We know where you are. We know where you’ve been. We can more or less know what you’re thinking about"
"Just remember when you post something, the computers remember forever"
I think you are being too charitable to Schmidt and Google because in my view they are aiders and abetters in chief.
The quote stands on its own because what you have in italics does not in any way exonerate him. You're defending him, as in your view he's trying to drop hints, yet Google pestered people for phone numbers for years, and tracked them over the net, knowing full well what the information would be used for.
My point is he doesn't care for anyone's privacy but his own and that he is a hypocrite. I can dig up some articles on his view of consumer drones if you feel that my point of view needs more supporting evidence.
Further to the many edits I made above, I strongly disagree that the quote you have in italics is exact or frank.
It's a Sergey Brin love Quadrangle according to an Aussie paper - with names and photos:
"an office romance that is being blamed for a split between co-founder Sergey Brin and his wife, and the sudden resignation of another senior male executive who was the former boyfriend of Brin's new love interest."
"If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place."
Bravo for the Daily Mail!