Google turned me into a serial killer • Hacker News Board

Re: Google turned me into a serial killer

#31

Post by retrac » Thu, Jun 24, 2021, 7:07 PM UTC

paulpauper wrote: post #20

jeswin wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

this is google we're talking about. so good luck with that.

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 court over malfeasance. Probably mostly correctly. I'm not sure it was really worth the hassle.

Re: Google turned me into a serial killer

#32

Post by vecplane » Thu, Jun 24, 2021, 7:08 PM UTC

cratermoon wrote: post #13

elliotbnvl wrote: post #4

> Maybe letting a single internet company "organize the world's information" probably isn't such a great idea. Some food for thought. When put like this, the thought that one company controls virtually all information flow on the Internet is more than mildly terrifying.

Yes, and a dozen or two people, mostly white males, control the company.

Is Sundar Pichai a white male?

Re: Google turned me into a serial killer

#33

Post by Huwyt_Nashi046 » Thu, Jun 24, 2021, 7:08 PM UTC

cratermoon wrote: post #13

elliotbnvl wrote: post #4

> Maybe letting a single internet company "organize the world's information" probably isn't such a great idea. Some food for thought. When put like this, the thought that one company controls virtually all information flow on the Internet is more than mildly terrifying.

Yes, and a dozen or two people, mostly white males, control the company.

Are the White men in the room with us right now? Do they hide under your bed and in your closet?

Boo!

Re: Google turned me into a serial killer

#34

Post by teraflop » Thu, Jun 24, 2021, 7:10 PM UTC

Sci-fi author Greg Egan has written about falling victim to a similar phenomenon, where photos of other people were showing up next to descriptions of him. No serial killers involved, though.

http://gregegan.net/ESSAYS/GOOGLE/Google.html

Re: Google turned me into a serial killer

#35

Post by warkdarrior » Thu, Jun 24, 2021, 7:12 PM UTC

3pt14159 wrote: post #16

elliotbnvl wrote: post #4

> Maybe letting a single internet company "organize the world's information" probably isn't such a great idea. Some food for thought. When put like this, the thought that one company controls virtually all information flow on the Internet is more than mildly terrifying.

It seems that they do, but they don't. Plenty of information flows through emails, chat, social media, direct search on websites like Amazon. The internet is large, and Google is a very big player, but they're not controlling all the information flow on the internet, and if they really tried people would leave.

> they're not controlling all the information flow on the internet, and if they really tried people would leave.

I am not sure about that. People are generally slow to change habits, especially that Google's control will not grow in a sudden fashion, but rather incrementally.

Re: Google turned me into a serial killer

#36

Post by haswell » Thu, Jun 24, 2021, 7:12 PM UTC

3pt14159 wrote: post #16

elliotbnvl wrote: post #4

> Maybe letting a single internet company "organize the world's information" probably isn't such a great idea. Some food for thought. When put like this, the thought that one company controls virtually all information flow on the Internet is more than mildly terrifying.

It seems that they do, but they don't. Plenty of information flows through emails, chat, social media, direct search on websites like Amazon. The internet is large, and Google is a very big player, but they're not controlling all the information flow on the internet, and if they really tried people would leave.

That Google controls/censors information is well established [0].

The side effects of their search algorithms and how they control the flow of information has also been a topic of regular discussion/scrutiny for many years (just one example here [1])

> and if they really tried people would leave

Where would they go?

- [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_by_Google

- [1] https://mindmatters.ai/2019/07/google-engineer-reveals-searc...

Re: Google turned me into a serial killer

#37

Post by dhosek » Thu, Jun 24, 2021, 7:13 PM UTC

a-and wrote: post #22

What's unfortunate is that Hristo Georgiev is a very common Bulgarian name. This isn't a case where a highly uncommon name can lead to a high degree of certainty in association.

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 the New England essayist Ravi Shankar. Then there are the authors whose names are the same as other writers. So far I haven't had to do an IMDB-style (II) after someone's name although it's come close with some authors differing only by the presence or absence of a middle initial. And one instance I had to try three times to find the correct author of one particular name because there were two others (not anthologized) who published under identical names. I have a short story that turns on the whole name confusion thing that was published last year. https://sandyriverreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2020...

Re: Google turned me into a serial killer

#38

Post by frumper » Thu, Jun 24, 2021, 7:14 PM UTC

This is a winning headline. It's got drama and levity that just drew me in. Bravo sir.

edit: The article was an interesting read too.

Re: Google turned me into a serial killer

#39

Post by dhosek » Thu, Jun 24, 2021, 7:14 PM UTC

cryptica wrote: post #28

dbalatero wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've seen how bad people are at skimming things they read online though even when the facts are laying there in front of them, and I could easily see someone (hiring manager, dating app they matched with) just googling their name, seeing the same pic match, and instantly running for the hills.

For most people, if they came across a CV of someone who might be a serial killer, they'd want to read the full article. It's not something that happens every day.

A common error is to assume that one's own views are those of "most people." Experience has taught me otherwise.

Re: Google turned me into a serial killer

#40

Post by html5web » Thu, Jun 24, 2021, 7:14 PM UTC

Google your name from time to time. I do it to protect my personal information. I don't want my personal information, including my home address, email, phone number etc. to be exposed on search.