Rolling Stone

A Q&A with Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft. Gates did not foresee when he promised there would be a PC on every desk in the 1990’s the transition to a cloud-based Internet-driven world. Even if it did not turn out as he expected, Gates sees innovation and technology as the primary force of improvement of living conditions around the world.

Collection of data in this hyperconnected world can be a good thing when it is used to deter petty crime and terrorism; however, qualifying his stance, he said: “Yet in an American city, in order to take advantage of that in the same way, you have to trust what this information is going to be used for.” While he does not view leaker and whistleblower Edward Snowden as a hero, Gates realizes the necessity for a debate around government surveillance.