Google defended the listing of extremist websites on its search results page saying it helps the police keep track of such websites.
In the recent past, Google has received quite a bit of criticism after extremist websites showed up on the search engine's search result pages. Defending itself,Google's chairman Eric Schmidt said that the company will not block such websites on its search engines as it helps the police keep a track of their activities.
During the literary Hay festival, Saturday, the company was asked to take down terrorist-sympathizing websites from its search engines. However, instead of obliging, Schmidt went on to explain the scenario to the audience.
"We cannot prima facie identify evil and take it down. We have taken the decision that information if it's legal, even if it's despicable, will be indexed," he said. "Extremists are not clever enough not to be found out. They leave a digital trail the police can follow."
He also said that decisions regarding matters such as these should be taken by elected governments and not companies. "Under US law we have a fiduciary responsibility to do what we're doing. We understand the complaint but we can't fix it. The British government can fix it," he said.
"On the whole, it is a fight between the internet community and government who do what they want to do. We can't force governments to do what we want," he said.
