Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is no stranger to Reddit's Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions. The billionaire software developer turned philanthropist took part in his third AMA yesterday answering questions on several topics, including his take on Apple's standoff with the FBI over iPhone encryption.
The way Gates sees it, there has to be a discussion that centers on when the government should be able to gather information. He also thinks the government needs to make clear what safeguards are in place to prevent it from abusing its position.
"Right now a lot of people don't think the government has the right checks to make sure information is only used in criminal situations. So this case will be viewed as the start of a discussion," Gates said. "I think very few people take the extreme view that the government should be blind to financial and communication data but very few people think giving the government carte blanche without safeguards makes sense. A lot of countries like the UK and France are also going through this debate. For tech companies there needs to be some consistency including how governments work with each other. The sooner we modernize the laws the better."
Asked what he do if he was in charge of Apple, Gates said one possible solution is to propose some kind of plan that would balance the government being able to obtain information in some cases with having safeguards in place to ensure the government's powers don't trickle out beyond specific cases.
"There is no avoiding this debate and they could contribute to how the balance should be struck," Gates said.
On the topic of quantum computing, Gates said it's something that Microsoft and others are currently working on, but doesn't know when it will work or become mainstream.
"There is a chance that within 6-10 years that cloud computing will offer super-computation by using quantum. It could help us solve some very important science problems including materials and catalyst design," Gates said.
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