Google's fight to keep search a secret
news.cnet.com
Google's fight to keep search a secret
1–10 of 36 posts
Re: Google's fight to keep search a secret
#2Why does the hell that somebody think that they have the right to force Google to have its algorithm published?
It's not like the government is propping up Google or that if anybody is locked in as a user in the search market. There are already a huge number of search engine and information filters.
Re: Google's fight to keep search a secret
#3"Google needs to figure out a way to shore up the public's confidence in its integrity "
[citation needed] I haven't heard "the public" complaining about not knowing how Google ranks results. That seems to be limited to spammers and the journalists they dupe into their sob stories.
Re: Google's fight to keep search a secret
#4This is silly. The users aren't the ones complaining. It's those who have everything to lose and cannot cope with a new reality.
Re: Google's fight to keep search a secret
#5I'm only half a Google fan, I think they do a lot wrong, but keeping their search algorithm a secret isn't one of those things.
If people really didn't trust Google, they'd go elsewhere.
There's an agenda at work here, very obviously.
Re: Google's fight to keep search a secret
#6I think the government should focus on the spam Google funds. I don't even remember the last time I saw a trashy spam site that wasn't plastered with Google ads. Between SEO and spammers machine-generating or just copy-pasting content it's no wonder a lot of people feel left out of search results.
Re: Google's fight to keep search a secret
#7Why does the hell that somebody think that they have the right to force Google to have its algorithm published? It's not like the government is propping up Google or that if anybody is locked in as a user in the search market. There are already a huge number of search engine and information filters.
They want to look like they're "doing something" and in the process keep the populists happy.
Re: Google's fight to keep search a secret
#8Why does the hell that somebody think that they have the right to force Google to have its algorithm published? It's not like the government is propping up Google or that if anybody is locked in as a user in the search market. There are already a huge number of search engine and information filters.
I generally agree, but there is an issue if Google has a monopolistic market share, even if there are many other options.
As you say, there is very little customer lock-in, so there should be a high bar for calling Google a monopoly. On the other hand, there is a large entry cost for the search martket.
Re: Google's fight to keep search a secret
#9If Google is forced to out their algorithm, Coke better be forced to out its recipe. They are both trade secrets at the heart of a competitive market space, though I think it would be far more catastrophic for Google's algorithm to be outed than Coke's recipe.
Re: Google's fight to keep search a secret
#10I'm only half a Google fan, I think they do a lot wrong, but keeping their search algorithm a secret isn't one of those things. If people really didn't trust Google, they'd go elsewhere. There's an agenda at work here, very obviously.
That's a bit of a strawman argument. There's a wide gap between the "totally trust" and "do not trust" groups. I would think most people would fit in that gap. The ones who do go elsewhere are in the "do not trust" group.
I can't be sure, but I would think the "totally trust" and "do not trust" groups are minorities in Google's user-verse.