"It is possible, within the next decade, using encryption, we would be able to open up countries that have strict censorship laws .. giving people a voice," Mr. Schmidt said on the side-lines of the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland.
In the wake of the disclosure about surveillance by the National Security agency, Mr. Schmidt said Google has been working to strengthen its encryption so governments "won't be able to" penetrate it. "This creates a problem for governments like China's," Mr. Schmidt added.
Google Inc. moved its search services out of China in 2010 and relocated to Hong Kong, because of concerns about censorship and cyber-attack, but Mr. Schmidt said that the company watches developments there closely. YouTube is totally blocked and that Gmail works sporadically.
The Google chairman said he views the Chinese as technological equals, but he blamed them for most of the world's industrial espionage. "Eighty to 85% of industrial espionage is thought to be done by China. It's a real problem. No other country comes close," Mr. Schmidt said.
Mr. Schmidt said the global debate over privacy sparked by the NSA disclosures is a good thing. "Because you can do this monitoring does not mean you should do this monitoring," he said.
