This argument only makes sense when you ignore the second half of what Schmitt said:<p><i>...the reality is that search engines - including Google - do retain this information for some time and it's important, for example, that we are all subject in the United States to the Patriot Act and it is possible that all that information could be made available to the authorities.</i><p>Schmitt was clearly <i>not</i> saying that privacy isn't important.  He was simply saying that Google can't protect you from the current (shitty) US laws regarding privacy.