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Google turned me into a serial killer

hristo-georgiev.com

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Re: Google turned me into a serial killer

#151

Post by hadlock »

Tenoke wrote: post #63
romseb wrote: post #45

Suggestion: Create a new Wikipedia article with the same Name, upload your own profile photo onto it and put a Disambiguation (Programmer/Hacker) in it so that Google will associate it correctly. Alternatively, add a drawing of the rapist to the original Wikipedia article. Interestingly, for me, another Hristo (german principal investigator) appears on the right side when I google the name.

You'd be surprised to learn how hard it is to add anything to Wikipedia and have it stay accepted.

I added the wiki page for Kamala Harris' dad (a professor) to wikipedia (shortly after Biden announced her as his running mate in the election), and within literally 2 minutes, two different people had flagged it for deletion. One reason given was that academics need to be especially notable to warrant a wiki page, completely ignoring his relation to her daughter, which was mentioned in the original draft of the article stub. All proposals for deletion have since been removed, but I was surprised at the ferocity at which users want to delete new articles.

Re: Google turned me into a serial killer

#153

Post by pvaldes »

I hope he don't try to fly, or take a train, or cross a frontier in a few years, or things could escalate really fast. Some people wouldn't need much more excuses to shoot first and ask later.

I wonder if the local sheriff could give him a small signed note explaining the problem to be shown to other policemen just in case. To assure at least that the local police in this place is aware of the situation (maybe ask them directly for advice?) could avoid future troubles.

Re: Google turned me into a serial killer

#155

Post by shadowgovt »

bryanrasmussen wrote: post #154

>I am now in the process of reporting this Knowledge Graph bug to Google. In an ironic twist, the process of trying to get support from Google will probably drive him to become a serial killer.

It's actually pretty simple: click the Feedback button, identify the flawed data, and explain the need to correct it.

That dataflow is human-curated.

Re: Google turned me into a serial killer

#156

Post by shadowgovt »

jetrink wrote: post #42

The info boxes sometimes contain surprising errors. I recently searched for Picasa and was informed that it was invented by Pablo Picasso in 2002! Google 'knows' Picasso died in the 1970s and it 'knows' he released a popular software program in 2002. That's an obvious contradiction requiring the simplest of rules to detect, but the system is just a dumb text extractor. (Interestingly, Google assistant gave the correc…

I searched for what year Ben Franlkin freed his slaves and was told 1863.

Hell of a feat, since he died in 1790.

Re: Google turned me into a serial killer

#157

Post by beerandt »

jbuhbjlnjbn wrote: post #53
retrac wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's surprisingly easy, just time-involved, to sue large corporations in small claims, at least in some jurisdictions. Yes, they've got lawyers, but if you have a case you may still win. I sued one of the largest telecoms in Canada for not honouring a verbal contract, and won quite easily once I proved the facts in dispute. Businesses assume people won't have the commitment to carry through and actually take them to…

Out of curiosity...how did you prove a verbal contract? Recordings? 3rd person present as witness? Protocol from the verbal contract mailed to yourself?

I actually had a similar case with AT&T, except they went back and listened to their recording of the call and confirmed the promise. No need to sue.

Re: Google turned me into a serial killer

#158

Post by duskwuff »

protomyth wrote: post #127
jeswin wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually he should sue them. The damage to his reputation and prospects are real.

Figuring out or demonstrating the "Quantifiably injurious" part might be very hard https://thelawdictionary.org/article/when-to-sue-for-defamat...

Might not be necessary. Many jurisdictions recognize certain types of claims, including accusations of serious crime, as defamation per se; no specific proof of harm is required.

Re: Google turned me into a serial killer

#159

Post by brewdad »

ghaff wrote: post #64
dhosek wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a longstanding project where I rank graduate creative writing programs by their alumni's appearances in a selection of prize anthologies. This means I spend a lot of time googling authors. There are a number of authors whose internet presence is shadowed by criminals with the same name. Then there are those who are shadowed by more famous people of the same name such as the Australian poet Kate Middleton or th…

The most problematic thing is when you share an unusual name with someone notorious who might plausibly be you at first glance. I went to grad school with someone who later lived in NYC. He shared a name with someone who basically was the cause of George Steinbrenner (NY Yankees owner) getting banned from baseball for a few years during the same period. Obviously not a popular NYC figure. This was pre-web etc., but m…

I have an uncommon name yet there are at least 4 (I discovered a new one today via Google) of us who share the same name and are all within 2 years in age. One of the other versions of "me" lives in the same state I grew up in.

Fortunately, none of us are too notorious, though one alternate "me" has pretty poor credit and another has been sued a couple of times recently.

Re: Google turned me into a serial killer

#160

Post by dntrkv »

da_chicken wrote: post #145
judge2020 wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> . In both cases, the correct hours were posted on the business's website Google has started favoring info inputted into the Google My Business listing (the same one that dictates what appears in Google Maps for claimed businesses), so if the owners are updating their website but not updating that (or checking their email for emails from google that say '[business], are you open on 4th of July?') it'll show incorrec…

That's still Google's fault. If their service is providing out-of-date information, it's their fault. Making it sound like the business's fault for not using Google's other service is just reinforcing the idea that Google's information is the only information that's real. This is the problem with the web search and scaping provider also trying to be a thousand other services at the same time. It's a constant conflict…

> That's still Google's fault. If their service is providing out-of-date information, it's their fault.

Huh? If the business owners aren't updating the correct info in My Business, how can that possibly be Google's fault?

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