Tech has lost sizzle at Davos

Technology seems to have lost its aura. The next big thing appears far away. Even the World Economic Forum's annual list of top-10 threats facing the world in 2014 lacked anything to do with hacking, privacy or tech-related issues. But that didn't stop Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt from drawing a crowd of 60 or 70 journalists and tech enthusiasts to a "fireside chat" to discuss the twin issues of privacy and jobs.

On a day when rival Microsoft announced a plan to break rank with Silicon Valley and offer foreign customers a chance to store their information on servers outside the US, Schmidt said he was confused how it would work. The US requires foreign servers of US companies to still be subject to the laws of the Foreign Intelligence Service Act, he said. Then he moved on. He said the National Security Agency scandal served some good in that it brought the issue out for debate, and said private companies like Google should be fine because the market would punish them far worse than anything else if they were found to be abusing their customers.