"India is a country with very very strong element to free speech and public discussion, which is admirable with a strong and vibrant democracy with a strong legal system. There are some clarifications that you needed to some of the aspects of law (section 66) and intermediate liability," he said.
"The reason is that you want entrepreneur to be willing to take risks. If they do take a risk, yout don't want them to be going to jail, unless they are very evil. So for example when content is put up, it is offensive...It will take time to discover its offensive and take it off," Schmidt added.
The Google chief went on to say that "it will be people who will actually make lies, they will be dramatic, they will promote things, they will do things, which are inappropriate and which are covered by your laws. It is important that the intermediaries the telcos, the ISPs, the start-ups have an ability to take that information down".
However on the dark side of the Internet he said: "There are also negatives for example the loss of privacy, which is a very real concern. And also there is a possible misuse of this information by governments."
Giving examples of data misuse by governments, Schmidt said if it can happen in about half of the US and may be another half in Europe,"it can certainly happen here as well".
He said: "I don't know enough Indian law with respect to civil liberties but I think it is very important that as this technology becomes pervasive in Indian society, the Indian Laws and so forth will respect the right to privacy."
