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‘We’re taking a look’ at whether Google searches should be regulated

washingtonpost.com

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Re: ‘We’re taking a look’ at whether Google searches should be regulated

#21

Post by sp332 »

acomjean wrote: post #8

The internet exists, is way to big to manually curate, and google is just providing a window into it with algorithmic searches. There is always talk about how google promotes this or that by having this search return X and how they should adjust it. They always "adjust the algorithm" or ban sites from their search results entirely. Google's search is better (I've tired and use others..) and thus it wields enormous po…

I can't put together your first paragraph with your second. Why do you say "good luck with that" while also acknowledging that it already happens?

Re: ‘We’re taking a look’ at whether Google searches should be regulated

#22

Post by econ4all »

jiojfdsal3 wrote: post #7

To me, this is a strong sign of Google manipulating search results. https://www.google.com/search?q=american+inventors https://www.google.com/search?q=american+mathematicians https://www.google.com/search?q=american+scientists Image results: https://www.google.com/search?q=european+art+history&tbm=isc... https://www.google.com/search?q=white+couple&tbm=isch https://www.google.com/search?q=white+inventor&tbm=isch

Counter:

https://www.google.com/search?q=us+inventors

https://www.google.com/search?q=us+mathematicians

https://www.google.com/search?q=us+scientists

Re: ‘We’re taking a look’ at whether Google searches should be regulated

#23

Post by quotemstr »

creaghpatr wrote: post #14
erulabs wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or it's extremely basic text matching and "African American Inventors" more closely matches "American Inventors" (as it is an exact substring match) than web pages about "Inventors from the United States", which is probably a more common phrasing (see: https://www.google.com/search?q=Inventors+from+the+United+St... ) One of the biggest problems with Google as I see it, and facebook for that matter, is for the end use…

I think OPs point is somewhat corroborated by the choices of Google Doodle, both in who they select and who they omit.

In a sense, it doesn't matter whether the curious "american inventors" search results set comes out of political bias or technical inadequacy: from the perspective of many people, Google's editorial choices in certain areas have forfeited the benefit of the doubt in others.

This situation is a good example of why it's important to pay attention to maintaining the appearance of impartiality as well as actually being impartial.

(Disclaimer: I work for Google. Nothing related to search.)

Re: ‘We’re taking a look’ at whether Google searches should be regulated

#24

Post by sp332 »

econ4all wrote: post #18

Before he was president or even running for office he'd call into a fox news show and say something stupid and other news outlets would pick it up and I remember being annoyed and thinking "why is this news?!" now he's president and everything he says is news and it hurts my soul. Anyway we live in a free country and the government can't dictate what kind of news a search engine should surface. It's ironic though tha…

We live in such a country now but that could change at any time. If the government starts dictating search results then we will not be a free country. Unfortunately causality doesn't go the other way.

Re: ‘We’re taking a look’ at whether Google searches should be regulated

#25

Post by sct202 »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #11
acomjean wrote: post #8

The internet exists, is way to big to manually curate, and google is just providing a window into it with algorithmic searches. There is always talk about how google promotes this or that by having this search return X and how they should adjust it. They always "adjust the algorithm" or ban sites from their search results entirely. Google's search is better (I've tired and use others..) and thus it wields enormous po…

The solution is to mandate that Google publicly disclose their algorithms and the various weightings they apply to incentivize behavior and how much of an impact they have. Then everyone can see whether or not their behavior constitutes unfair bias, can test for themselves what's going on. Google does not need or deserve the ability to keep the way all human knowledge is accessed and found today a trade secret. Addit…

Good luck with that and prepare for their search results to be overrun by content farms and stores SEOing their websites to the spec.

Re: ‘We’re taking a look’ at whether Google searches should be regulated

#26

Post by api »

jiojfdsal3 wrote: post #15
erulabs wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or it's extremely basic text matching and "African American Inventors" more closely matches "American Inventors" (as it is an exact substring match) than web pages about "Inventors from the United States", which is probably a more common phrasing (see: https://www.google.com/search?q=Inventors+from+the+United+St... ) One of the biggest problems with Google as I see it, and facebook for that matter, is for the end use…

I'd assume the greatest search engineers in the world would know how to distinguish people searching between the two phrases.

Any search algorithm will introduce some kind of bias. People will notice this bias and assume a conspiracy because humans like to read purpose and intent into everything. If all the results were white males, people would be accusing Google of sexism and racism. If the results skewed toward Asians people would think Google was in league with the Chinese government or something.

This is one of the social dangers of allowing algorithms to make important decisions in society. We might not even be aware of what biases we're introducing. They can be very non-obvious, especially if the algorithm is complex or the data set is large.

Edit: here's another possible explanation: perhaps due to efforts to popularize African American contributions to American history there are more web pages (in a pure numeric sense) about African American inventors, scientists, etc. on the web. This could affect the way Google weights search results.

Re: ‘We’re taking a look’ at whether Google searches should be regulated

#28

Post by lgleason »

Google, Facebook, Twitter, Patreon and others were able to grow to the size they did based on Safe Harbor provisions that exempted them from libel laws under the premise that they were neutral platforms that allowed anybody to post content etc.. Newspapers and television stations are held liable for their content. Once they started to editorialize by banning things under subjective pretexts such as "hate speech" they started to violate that. It is also well known that there is political bias among these companies. This is one of many strategies that can be used. But, more importantly, there is concern from the left as well about these platforms and have been calls from that side as well to regulate them. They would have been much better served to have stayed neutral, but they've made their beds....

Re: ‘We’re taking a look’ at whether Google searches should be regulated

#29

Post by gowld »

jiojfdsal3 wrote: post #7

To me, this is a strong sign of Google manipulating search results. https://www.google.com/search?q=american+inventors https://www.google.com/search?q=american+mathematicians https://www.google.com/search?q=american+scientists Image results: https://www.google.com/search?q=european+art+history&tbm=isc... https://www.google.com/search?q=white+couple&tbm=isch https://www.google.com/search?q=white+inventor&tbm=isch

What does "manipulating" mean? Are search results a naturally occuring substance that springs into your brower unless humans interfere?

Re: ‘We’re taking a look’ at whether Google searches should be regulated

#30

Post by yashap »

Trump’s rhetoric around media is terrifying. The outlets best known for thorough research and journalistic integrity he calls “fake news.” Meanwhile he promotes outlets like Breitbart and Info Wars, which are essentially state media, with zero journalistic integrity.

These are the actions we’re used to seeing from oppressive dictatorships, but seeing them from the President of the United States is nuts.

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