You say you should focus on more productive things than suing, but suing in this situation seems very productive
Google turned me into a serial killer
231–240 of 313 posts
Re: Google turned me into a serial killer
#232Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's obvious for you, a human. There's no human curating those results (it's completely infeasible at Google's scales) and their graph building algorithms are extremely dumb. They are proprietary, but all of them are, so I'm sure Google's are too. The rules that could be added are obvious for each case, but there are trillions of possible cases, and there's no feasible way to create rules for even a small percent of…
I’d push back on the idea that human curation is infeasable at Google’s scales. It might be more costly, but remember that Wikipedia did roughly the same task (accurate-enough text + image descriptions for every reasonable topic) with only volunteer time. There are under 10 million wiki pages, and nobody would claim English Wikipedia has any major uncovered areas. For a large-but-doable investment of, say, a billion…
Wikipedia relies on a vast army of unpaid volunteers. Google would never be able to buy as much time and effort, even with their trillions of dollars. That's why they are actively using Wikipedia (and Wikidata) data. And they also import errors and vandalism, and it takes much longer to fix errors than on Wiki, because see above.
> a billion USD, Google could spend $100 worth of human curation per Wikipedia topic
$100 would buy how much? Probably 30 minutes of my time, if I'm feeling very generous. Actually, probably 10 mins if it's Google, because I'm not giving Google any discounts, if I'm to work for the Evil Empire, at least I want to get rich from it! That's not counting training costs, transaction costs, legal compliance and HR benefits costs, etc. etc. So, how much work I'd be able to do with one-time investment of 10 minutes? I don't think too much, even for the topic I'm an expert in. Maybe I'll be able to notice and fix one error, once.
And then, the data changes all the time. People do new things, people change jobs, people change names, people are born, people die. You have to run very fast to just stay in the same place. And then you have 200+ world languages (surprise, not everybody speaks English!) - Wikipedia actually has 300+ but let's drop the most exotic ones.
So a billion dollars wouldn't get you as much as you'd think. You probably need to bump it by couple of orders of magnitude. Which gives you an appreciation of how much value people are actually willing to donate completely free, if motivated correctly. Unfortunately, there's no way Google could have it - except through an intermediary like Wikipedia.
Re: Google turned me into a serial killer
#233See also the google results for: "when was running invented" "how many terashits does the ps5 have"
“1784
Running was invented in 1784 by Thomas Running when he tried to walk twice the same time”.
“69 terashits
ppl when the ps5 is revealed to have 69 terashits per megafart.”
Re: Google turned me into a serial killer
#234You should seriously consider suing for defamation if this isn't fixed within a few days. This is an egregious error, especially if it was done by an automated system (and this could be a systemic issue affecting many others). I think you have a decent chance of getting a five figure+ settlement from this. Talk to a lawyer about your options. EDIT: When I search "Hristo Georgiev" (from US IP) there is no longer an im…
In many countries you can't sue for defamation as easily as you appear to be able to the US. In the UK its required that you demonstrate loss or reputational damage, given how obvious it is that this is a mistake and the speed in which it was fixed, I think its highly unlikely to stand up in court. Simply calling someone a name isn't enough. OP appears to be in Switzerland, where I'm not familiar with the laws.
[deleted]
Re: Google turned me into a serial killer
#235Suggestion: 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.
No way he'd be able to add an article about himself. He'd need to be somewhat famous/notable for the article to stick...
Hes famous for falsely having been accused of being a serial killer by Google!
Re: Google turned me into a serial killer
#236You should seriously consider suing for defamation if this isn't fixed within a few days. This is an egregious error, especially if it was done by an automated system (and this could be a systemic issue affecting many others). I think you have a decent chance of getting a five figure+ settlement from this. Talk to a lawyer about your options. EDIT: When I search "Hristo Georgiev" (from US IP) there is no longer an im…
Author here - Given that I‘m not in the US puts me at a disadvantage. But if you can forward me a good lawyer who is willing to work with me on this, I may give it a shot.
I don't think that is necessarily a disadvantage - it could even work to your benefit as most of Google's legal muscle is in the US.
Did some googling (lol), was looking for any lawyers who have won successful defamation cases against Google. The top results that were successful suits in non-US jurisdictions (Australia, Japan, Ireland, Hong Kong).
Ex. https://www.mondaq.com/australia/libel-defamation/931462/goo...
I am not a lawyer, I just find law very interesting. I'd recommend reaching out to a few lawyers that deal with defamation claims in your current jurisdiction to see if they think you have a claim.
Re: Google turned me into a serial killer
#237You should seriously consider suing for defamation if this isn't fixed within a few days. This is an egregious error, especially if it was done by an automated system (and this could be a systemic issue affecting many others). I think you have a decent chance of getting a five figure+ settlement from this. Talk to a lawyer about your options. EDIT: When I search "Hristo Georgiev" (from US IP) there is no longer an im…
Author here - Given that I‘m not in the US puts me at a disadvantage. But if you can forward me a good lawyer who is willing to work with me on this, I may give it a shot.
Google operates globally, and your country’s laws might actually be more friendly to libel lawsuits.
Re: Google turned me into a serial killer
#238You should seriously consider suing for defamation if this isn't fixed within a few days. This is an egregious error, especially if it was done by an automated system (and this could be a systemic issue affecting many others). I think you have a decent chance of getting a five figure+ settlement from this. Talk to a lawyer about your options. EDIT: When I search "Hristo Georgiev" (from US IP) there is no longer an im…
In a sitcom like "Silicon Valley" I can imagine Google having to defend their algorithm in court, and prove he actually is a serial killer...
Re: Google turned me into a serial killer
#239You should seriously consider suing for defamation if this isn't fixed within a few days. This is an egregious error, especially if it was done by an automated system (and this could be a systemic issue affecting many others). I think you have a decent chance of getting a five figure+ settlement from this. Talk to a lawyer about your options. EDIT: When I search "Hristo Georgiev" (from US IP) there is no longer an im…
In many countries you can't sue for defamation as easily as you appear to be able to the US. In the UK its required that you demonstrate loss or reputational damage, given how obvious it is that this is a mistake and the speed in which it was fixed, I think its highly unlikely to stand up in court. Simply calling someone a name isn't enough. OP appears to be in Switzerland, where I'm not familiar with the laws.
You have it backwards, suing for defamation in the UK is considerably easier than in the US. The 1A in the US makes defamation and label very hard to prove - you must demonstrate that the statement is false, that the defamer knew it was false, and that you suffered damages as a result. All three must be met.
In the UK malicious intent is all that is needed - even if the statement is in fact true.
Re: Google turned me into a serial killer
#240You know what bugs me about these kinds of things - the millions of people that have already had this happen to them, but are terrible at public speaking or writing pretty much have no chance of getting these things corrected. Yes, we're all glad Hristo seems to have his situation fixed, but it did go viral and he's a great writer.
What about all the others out there that can't do this for themselves?