I'm really astonished to find only a handful of references to DuckDuckGo in this discussion. I've been using it exclusively for about 2 years now, and had no problems at all. Perhaps I just don't know what I'm missing ... like mind control!
The New Mind Control – The internet has spawned subtle forms of influence
131–140 of 212 posts
Re: The New Mind Control – The internet has spawned subtle forms of influence
#132I have made this case before, but I will make it again. The Internet is the largest information system in the world, and Google is the primary portal into that information system. Google's "organic" results are accompanied by AdWords results, which are based on a mixture of bid price and relevance. These ads are marked with a small "Ad" label that many people miss, and even those who know they're ads can't really "un…
Just imagine what TV/"news papers" used to be and still is. I can see why many left wing extremists worked on TV as it can be easily used to shape people with no alternative source of info. Until that pesky internet came and along and with it a lower barrier to entry. Things have improved, even with Google.
Re: The New Mind Control – The internet has spawned subtle forms of influence
#133Earlier quoted context omitted.
The library is a catalog of books produced by publishers for the sake of making money. Your example doesn't hold weight, as there is no "purity of information". Even your own insights are filtered through the perspective of your personal influence, your wants, your desires, your history, etc. Google is no different. The organic search results are largely from commercial, or at a minimum, self-interested sources. That…
I'm just saying I wish we could have only organic results. Why should people with more money have more of a presence online? Money shouldn't be able to buy speech. The Internet should not be a place where those with more money get to cut the line in front of those with less. Let PageRank sort it out. Also, what's this about my example not holding weight because "information purity" doesn't exist? It's not about the i…
Then you can keep claiming your results are non-biased long after it stop being organic as these things tend to do with fresh people and their friends with same mindset. I've come to dismiss everything that claims to be neutral. DailyMail, Guardian, the sheets of toilet paper, all used for the same purpose.
Re: The New Mind Control – The internet has spawned subtle forms of influence
#134Earlier quoted context omitted.
The library doesn't make money through directing you to particular books or sell publishers your reading habits.
That's because the library is funded by taxpayers – it doesn't need the money. How would you feel about a government-sponsored search engine? I think China has one of those.
If the queries were totally anonymized to protect it from the government itself, and the information provided was thorough and unbiased, I wouldn't have a problem with it at all.
If it were done the way China does it, I would.
A service offered by the government is really only as trustworthy as the government that's offering it. Do you have a problem with Xinhua News Agency? What about PBS or the BBC?
Re: The New Mind Control – The internet has spawned subtle forms of influence
#135I have made this case before, but I will make it again. The Internet is the largest information system in the world, and Google is the primary portal into that information system. Google's "organic" results are accompanied by AdWords results, which are based on a mixture of bid price and relevance. These ads are marked with a small "Ad" label that many people miss, and even those who know they're ads can't really "un…
I'm not even sure why Google has sponsored search at this point. They have more than enough revenue from other sources to jettison this odious practice.
Re: The New Mind Control – The internet has spawned subtle forms of influence
#136I have made this case before, but I will make it again. The Internet is the largest information system in the world, and Google is the primary portal into that information system. Google's "organic" results are accompanied by AdWords results, which are based on a mixture of bid price and relevance. These ads are marked with a small "Ad" label that many people miss, and even those who know they're ads can't really "un…
Money buys speech.
I also used to fantasize about the democratization of speech via the internet. No longer would money determine what information reached you.
Adwords is no less ethical than search rankings, newspapers, TV, radio, literature, bus stops, music - reality, ultimately.
Good news: I agree that this is a problem. Bad news: It's incredibly more prevalent than you realize.
If communication of information isn't democratized, you can't have a democracy. It shouldn't be a surprise then that we don't have a democracy, but an oligarchy [1].
Mind you, this is just one of many factors that makes a true democracy impossible as they currently exist. [2]
Re: The New Mind Control – The internet has spawned subtle forms of influence
#137I have made this case before, but I will make it again. The Internet is the largest information system in the world, and Google is the primary portal into that information system. Google's "organic" results are accompanied by AdWords results, which are based on a mixture of bid price and relevance. These ads are marked with a small "Ad" label that many people miss, and even those who know they're ads can't really "un…
Money buys speech.
I also used to fantasize about the democratization of speech via the internet. No longer would money determine what information reached you.
Adwords is no less ethical than search rankings, newspapers, TV, radio, literature, bus stops, music - reality, ultimately. Reality is for sale.
Good news: I agree that this is a problem. Bad news: It's incredibly more prevalent than you realize.
If communication of information isn't democratized, you can't have a democracy. It shouldn't be a surprise then that we don't have a democracy, but an oligarchy [1].
Mind you, this is just one of many factors that makes a true democracy impossible as they currently exist. [2]
Re: The New Mind Control – The internet has spawned subtle forms of influence
#138I have made this case before, but I will make it again. The Internet is the largest information system in the world, and Google is the primary portal into that information system. Google's "organic" results are accompanied by AdWords results, which are based on a mixture of bid price and relevance. These ads are marked with a small "Ad" label that many people miss, and even those who know they're ads can't really "un…
hmm.. AdWords seems like the tiny tip of the iceberg. Perhaps you don't realise, but the problem you are alluding to is that money influences which information gets created. Those 'organic' search results are in the same boat as the ads.
Re: The New Mind Control – The internet has spawned subtle forms of influence
#139This is a really interesting study but it's hard for me to believe in the conspiracy theory that the hundreds of engineers that work on Google Search would be OK implementing a complicated vote manipulation algorithm and keeping it secret. But it's possible, criminal conspiracies involving many people seem to happen regularly in the financial industry.
VW?
Re: The New Mind Control – The internet has spawned subtle forms of influence
#140I have made this case before, but I will make it again. The Internet is the largest information system in the world, and Google is the primary portal into that information system. Google's "organic" results are accompanied by AdWords results, which are based on a mixture of bid price and relevance. These ads are marked with a small "Ad" label that many people miss, and even those who know they're ads can't really "un…
"How does anyone consider this ethical? Why are we letting money influence the salience of information?"
You can't have non biased information in a capitalist society, capitalist by their nature want a monopoly on everything. Most people in capitalist society are clueless about how egregiously criminal their own society really is.
There is no such thing as non biased information, private institutions push their agenda, always will and always have. You want non biased info you need publically owned and nationalized institutions but that is an anathema to US ideology.