Uh huh. Google takes a similarlygenerous view of its own motives on the politically vexed issue of privacy. Mr. Schmidt says regulation is unnecessary because Google faces such strong incentives to treat its users right, since they will walk away the minute Google does anything with their personal information they find 'creepy.'

Really? Some might be skeptical that a user with, say, a thousand photos on Picasa would find it so easy to walk away. Or a guy with 10 years of emails on Gmail. Or a small business owner who has come to rely on Google Docs as an alternative to Microsoft Office. Isn't stickiness -- even slightly extortionate stickiness -- what these Google services aim for?

Mr. Schmidt is surely right, though, that the questions go far beyond Google. 'I don't believe society understands what happens when everything is available, knowable and recorded by everyone all the time,' he says. He predicts, apparentlyseriously, that every young person one day will be entitled automatically to change his or her name on reaching adulthood in order to disown youthful hijinks stored on their friends' social media sites.

'I mean we really have to think about these things as a society,' he adds. 'I'm not even talking about the really terrible stuff, terrorism and access to evil things,' he says.

Not that Google is a doubter of the value of social media. Mr. Schmidt awards Facebook his highest accolade, calling it a 'company of consequence.' And though 'there is a lot of hot air, a lot of venture money' in the sector right now, he predicts that one or two more 'companies of consequence' will be born among the horde of new players just coming to life now.

A skeptic might wonder whether, despite present glory, Google itself might yet prove a flash in the pan. The company has enormous technological confidence. Mr. Schmidt describes how YouTube, its video-serving site, almost 'took down' the company in its early days, thanks to the swelling outflow of video dispatched from its servers to users around the globe. Salvation was the 'proxy cache' -- lots of local servers around the world holding the most popular videos. 'The technology that Google invented allows us to put those things very close to you,' says Mr. Schmidt. 'It was a tremendous technological achievement.'

But with YouTube, as with lots of Google projects, there remains the question of how to make money. Google captured the search wave and shows every sign of positioning itself successfully for the mobile wave. As for the waves after that, your guess may be as good as Mr. Schmidt's.

Holman W. Jenkins, Jr.

• lately [´leitli] ad.近来，不久前 (初中英语单词)


• platform [´plætfɔ:m] n.(平)台；讲台；站台 (初中英语单词)


• journal [´dʒə:nəl] n.日记；日报；杂志 (初中英语单词)


• beginning [bi´giniŋ] n.开始，开端；起源 (初中英语单词)


• absolutely [´æbsəlu:tli] ad.绝对地；确实 (初中英语单词)


• valuable [´væljuəbəl, -jubəl] a.有价值的，贵重的 (初中英语单词)


• financial [fi´nænʃəl] a.金融的，财政的 (初中英语单词)


• suspect [´sʌspekt, sə´spekt] v.怀疑；觉得 n.嫌疑犯 (初中英语单词)


• running [´rʌniŋ] a.奔跑的；流动的 (初中英语单词)


• challenge [´tʃælindʒ] n.&vt.向….挑战；怀疑 (初中英语单词)


• preserve [pri´zə:v] v.保藏 n.保藏物 (初中英语单词)


• advertising [´ædvətaiziŋ] n.广告a.广告的 (初中英语单词)


• actually [´æktʃuəli] ad.事实上；实际上 (初中英语单词)


• remind [ri´maind] vt.提醒；使记(想)起 (初中英语单词)


• collection [kə´lekʃən] n.收集；征收；募捐 (初中英语单词)


• reading [´ri:diŋ] n.(阅)读；朗读；读物 (初中英语单词)


• generation [,dʒenə´reiʃən] n.发生；世代；同龄人 (初中英语单词)


• surprising [sə´praiziŋ] a.惊人的；意外的 (初中英语单词)


• fascinating [´fæsineitiŋ] a.迷人，使神魂颠倒的 (初中英语单词)


• obviously [´ɔbviəsli] ad.明显地；显而易见地 (初中英语单词)


• audience [´ɔ:diəns] n.听众；观众；接见 (初中英语单词)


• devotion [di´vəuʃən] n.献身；忠诚；热爱 (初中英语单词)


• disaster [di´zɑ:stə] n.灾难，不幸 (初中英语单词)


• willing [´wiliŋ] a.情愿的，乐意的 (初中英语单词)


• consume [kən´sju:m] v.毁灭；浪费；憔悴 (初中英语单词)


• debate [di´beit] n.&v.讨论，辩论 (初中英语单词)


• striking [´straikiŋ] a.显著的，明显的 (初中英语单词)


• capacity [kə´pæsiti] n.容量；智能；能力 (初中英语单词)


• patent [´peitənt, ´pæ-] a.专利的 n.专利品 (初中英语单词)


• assault [ə´sɔ:lt] vt.袭击；殴打 n.攻击 (初中英语单词)


• prevail [pri´veil] vi.胜(过)；流行；普遍 (初中英语单词)


• generous [´dʒenərəs] a.慷慨的；丰盛的 (初中英语单词)


• slightly [´slaitli] ad.轻微地；细长的 (初中英语单词)


• available [ə´veiləbəl] a.可用的；有效的 (初中英语单词)


• everyone [´evriwʌn] pron.=everybody 每人 (初中英语单词)


• seriously [´siəriəsli] ad.严肃；严重，重大 (初中英语单词)


• youthful [´ju:θfəl] a.年轻的；青年的 (初中英语单词)


• venture [´ventʃə] n.投机 v.冒险；敢于 (初中英语单词)


• despite [di´spait] prep.尽管 (初中英语单词)


• enormous [i´nɔ:məs] a.巨大地，很，极 (初中英语单词)


• tremendous [tri´mendəs] a.可怕的；巨大的 (初中英语单词)


• crisis [´kraisis] n.转折点；危机 (高中英语单词)


• behalf [bi´hɑ:f] n.利益 (高中英语单词)


• billion [´biljən] num.万亿 (高中英语单词)


• revenue [´revinju:] n.税收；收入 (高中英语单词)


• temptation [temp´teiʃən] n.引诱，诱惑(物) (高中英语单词)


• positive [´pɔzətiv] a.确定的 (高中英语单词)


• roughly [´rʌfli] ad.粗糙地；毛糙地 (高中英语单词)


• helper [´helpə] n.帮助者，助手 (高中英语单词)


• allies [´ælaiz, ə´laiz] n.协约国 (高中英语单词)


• partnership [´pɑ:tnəʃip] n.合伙关系 (高中英语单词)


• oracle [´ɔrəkl] n.预言(者)；圣理名言 (高中英语单词)


• opponent [ə´pəunənt] a.对立的 n.对手 (高中英语单词)


• regulation [,regju´leiʃən] n.规则；章程；法规 (高中英语单词)


• apparently [ə´pærəntli] ad.显然，表面上地 (高中英语单词)


• access [´ækses] n.接近；通路；进入 (高中英语单词)


• salvation [sæl´veiʃən] n.救助；拯救 (高中英语单词)


• successfully [sək´sesfəli] ad.成功地 (高中英语单词)


• trying [´traiiŋ] a.难堪的；费劲的 (英语四级单词)


• listener [´lisənə] n.(收)听者，听众之一 (英语四级单词)


• sorrowful [´sɔrəuful] a.悲伤的，使人伤心的 (英语四级单词)


• believer [bi´li:və] n.信徒 (英语四级单词)


• antagonist [æn´tægənist] n.敌手，反对者，对手 (英语四级单词)


• privacy [´praivəsi, -pri] n.隐退；独处；秘密 (英语四级单词)


• similarly [´similəli] ad.类似地，同样地 (英语四级单词)


• alternative [ɔ:l´tə:nətiv] a.二中选一的 n.选择 (英语四级单词)


• automatically [ɔ:tə´mætikli] ad.自动地；无意识地 (英语四级单词)


• publicly [´pʌblikli] ad.公然；公众所有地 (英语六级单词)


• luscious [´lʌʃəs] a.味道甘美的 (英语六级单词)


• franchise [´fræntʃaiz] n.选举权；特许权 (英语六级单词)


• deluge [´delju:dʒ] n.大洪水 vt.泛滥 (英语六级单词)


• insufficient [,insə´fiʃənt] a.不足的，无能的 (英语六级单词)


• sticky [´stiki] a.胶粘的；顽固的 (英语六级单词)


• calling [´kɔ:liŋ] n.点名；职业；欲望 (英语六级单词)


• holding [´həuldiŋ] n.保持，固定，存储 (英语六级单词)