Privacy On The Agenda At Gathering Of High-Tech Elite

South by Southwest, an annual conference in Austin, Texas, that began as a music festival, has evolved to include a rendezvous/party/deal-hatching stew pot for the biggest names in high tech. After years of celebrating and promoting “sharing,” the conference this year is also taking a close look at privacy. Scheduled speakers, in addition to Google Chairman Eric Schmidt, Dell CEO Michael Dell and representatives from Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, Samsung, Twitter and Yahoo, also include (by video) Edward Snowden and Julian Assange.