Google’s former chief executive predicts that the global Internet will split in two within the next decade, bifurcating into a Web led by the United States and another helmed by China with fewer freedoms and greater censorship, according to CNBC.
Eric Schmidt, who served as executive chairman of Google and later its parent company, Alphabet, offered his projections during a private event Wednesday in San Francisco convened by the venture capital firm Village Global, CNBC reported.
[Alphabet shares soar despite hit to profit from Google’s European Union fine].
Village Global and Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Schmidt stepped down from his role as Alphabet executive chairman earlier this year, but he remains a member of the board and a technical adviser.
Pichai’s address to the company came after the Intercept revealed Google’s plans to develop a government-compliant search engine that would block Chinese users from accessing certain websites and using search queries blacklisted by Beijing.
Google employees have also protested the plans. »
![image for I carried a star tracker through the desert in June to photograph the milky way in one of the darkest places in the US - Reflection Canyon, Utah [OC][1440x1800]](04478ffd-c825-5da6-a88d-05f11631c37f_thumb.jpg)
