3 ms·

If Google is going to have customers remain on their site for search information they have the duty to ensure it is accurate. More and more searches are now giv

If Google is going to have customers remain on their site for search information they have the duty to ensure it is accurate. More and more searches are now given a placard that is either community generated or scraped whether it be maps or the main search. A search that used to feature a link to the bank's "Contact Us" page is now being taken by Google with the link being buried further down between more ads. I get this is to help Google provide voice searches (with the great side effect that Google gets people spending more time on their site), but with that revenue comes a responsibility to do more to ensure it is accurate.

phkahler 8y ago
Most people want to remain anonymous on the internet or have disposable IDs and profiles. And yet they expect Google to somehow ensure that people are who they say they are. This is a hard problem and it won't be solved as long as people want it both ways.
- jakelazaroff 8y ago
  It's not that people don't want to ever be identified, it's that they don't want to constantly be identified and tracked with no way to opt out. This is also a false dichotomy: Google not tracking us online would not prevent it from verifying our true identities with regard to e.g. editing maps information.
- pavel_lishin 8y ago
  We expect Google to ensure that businesses are who they say they are.
Drdrdrq 8y ago
Or, at least they could accompany the non-verified details with labels that clearly marked them as such ("Unverified phone number: ...").
reaperducer 8y ago
they have the duty to ensure it is accurate Accuracy doesn't pay. Giving results that are "pretty close" keeps people searching and searching and searching for what they need, and racks up the ad dollars.
Nasrudith 8y ago
The dirty truth is that it isn't accuracy but what people want that keeps them coming back. If I were to set up a hillariously inaccurate database that used machine learning to generate incoherent transcripts I would get way more traffic then if it was accurate. This isn't new at all. People pay more attention to the ballad which attributed a single soldier pushing through a phalanx than the truth it was his own phalanx combined with a flanking auxiliary that broke through and gave victory. Similarly Google was never about accuracy per say but indexing. It says what people are saying essentially. People may say that Ted Cruz is the zodiac killer but he would have been way too young in reality - amusing as the actual police sketch resemblance is. It just isn't capable of knowing the truth and that isn't its true purpose any more than a regex is to give you dictionary definitions. I do wonder what would make a better system for maintaining these sorts of things. The whole identification and authentication systems in place are honestly pretty bad in legacy systems both technically and legislatively - combines with rightful concern about abuse potential in upgrades make it seem like something which will take generations to solve.

phkahler 8y ago

Most people want to remain anonymous on the internet or have disposable IDs and profiles. And yet they expect Google to somehow ensure that people are who they say they are. This is a hard problem and it won't be solved as long as people want it both ways.

jakelazaroff 8y ago
It's not that people don't want to ever be identified, it's that they don't want to constantly be identified and tracked with no way to opt out. This is also a false dichotomy: Google not tracking us online would not prevent it from verifying our true identities with regard to e.g. editing maps information.
pavel_lishin 8y ago
We expect Google to ensure that businesses are who they say they are.

Drdrdrq 8y ago

Or, at least they could accompany the non-verified details with labels that clearly marked them as such ("Unverified phone number: ...").

reaperducer 8y ago

they have the duty to ensure it is accurate Accuracy doesn't pay. Giving results that are "pretty close" keeps people searching and searching and searching for what they need, and racks up the ad dollars.

Nasrudith 8y ago

The dirty truth is that it isn't accuracy but what people want that keeps them coming back. If I were to set up a hillariously inaccurate database that used machine learning to generate incoherent transcripts I would get way more traffic then if it was accurate. This isn't new at all. People pay more attention to the ballad which attributed a single soldier pushing through a phalanx than the truth it was his own phalanx combined with a flanking auxiliary that broke through and gave victory. Similarly Google was never about accuracy per say but indexing. It says what people are saying essentially. People may say that Ted Cruz is the zodiac killer but he would have been way too young in reality - amusing as the actual police sketch resemblance is. It just isn't capable of knowing the truth and that isn't its true purpose any more than a regex is to give you dictionary definitions. I do wonder what would make a better system for maintaining these sorts of things. The whole identification and authentication systems in place are honestly pretty bad in legacy systems both technically and legislatively - combines with rightful concern about abuse potential in upgrades make it seem like something which will take generations to solve.