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Google really doesn't care as long as they get paid. They only self-regulate the absolute minimum. I just got this ad in gmail (presented as an email except for

by kabes 7y ago

Google really doesn't care as long as they get paid. They only self-regulate the absolute minimum. I just got this ad in gmail (presented as an email except for the little 'ad' badge): https://imgur.com/xHr7E3e https://imgur.com/xHr7E3e It's in in Dutch, but it's the typical misleading, copyright infringing ad you would find on shady porn sites. Why does Google allow this ad? Don't they have the competence to filter it? It's the same company creating a great spam filter on gmail and leading in a lot of AI fields. Surely they could. But they just don't care when they get paid for it. On the other hand, when they don't get paid or it negatively affects them, they're always happy to make changes "to protect the users" (e.g. changing chrome so adblock plus stops working etc.)

Nasrudith 7y ago
Stop looking for a neck to wring for a minute and think about the problem. Manual filtering is just plain not viable period. Spam is very different from arbitrary image formats and potential text analysis across language. Nobody really wants ads so spam filter feedback mechanisms of "everyone says to stop sending me this shit" are fundamentally incompatible. Think about it would take to detect it algorithmically. Even if an image is copyrighted there is no mechanism to tell if the source actually has permission from it especially with the "born copyrighted" doctrine. Even if there was some vast self defeating registered copyrighted images database (containing images of everything copyrighted) it woukd be possible to distort images to be human recognizible but not machine recognized. The "alternatives" of demanded manual ad control would mean massively disadvantaging smaller business by marginal costs. Oops.
- kabes 7y ago
  You really think google doesn't have the capability to create a system to detect these ads? This is Google's core business and they do far more impressive stuff in the AI field. I'm not talking about a 100% bulletproof all-copyright-in-the-world solution. If it would be able to detect logo's from the top 1000 brands and some OCR would already go a very long way. Sure ads would try to outsmart it, just like spam it would be a cat-and-mouse game.
Fnoord 7y ago
> Why does Google allow this ad? The most simple explanation is because they make money with it, and get away with it. A good question is why they get away with it. As for people in The Netherlands, my mother got scammed by a fake locksmith. He asked her to pay with PIN, and he did not fix the problem (which we found out eventually). Total scumbag, yet he was first hit on Google. Here's some good advice on how to find a good locksmith (slotenmaker) in Dutch [1]. [1] https://www.consumentenbond.nl/inboedelverzekering/slotenmakers#no1 https://www.consumentenbond.nl/inboedelverzekering/slotenmak...

by kabes 7y ago

Nasrudith 7y ago

Stop looking for a neck to wring for a minute and think about the problem. Manual filtering is just plain not viable period. Spam is very different from arbitrary image formats and potential text analysis across language. Nobody really wants ads so spam filter feedback mechanisms of "everyone says to stop sending me this shit" are fundamentally incompatible. Think about it would take to detect it algorithmically. Even if an image is copyrighted there is no mechanism to tell if the source actually has permission from it especially with the "born copyrighted" doctrine. Even if there was some vast self defeating registered copyrighted images database (containing images of everything copyrighted) it woukd be possible to distort images to be human recognizible but not machine recognized. The "alternatives" of demanded manual ad control would mean massively disadvantaging smaller business by marginal costs. Oops.

kabes 7y ago
You really think google doesn't have the capability to create a system to detect these ads? This is Google's core business and they do far more impressive stuff in the AI field. I'm not talking about a 100% bulletproof all-copyright-in-the-world solution. If it would be able to detect logo's from the top 1000 brands and some OCR would already go a very long way. Sure ads would try to outsmart it, just like spam it would be a cat-and-mouse game.

Fnoord 7y ago

> Why does Google allow this ad? The most simple explanation is because they make money with it, and get away with it. A good question is why they get away with it. As for people in The Netherlands, my mother got scammed by a fake locksmith. He asked her to pay with PIN, and he did not fix the problem (which we found out eventually). Total scumbag, yet he was first hit on Google. Here's some good advice on how to find a good locksmith (slotenmaker) in Dutch [1]. [1] https://www.consumentenbond.nl/inboedelverzekering/slotenmakers#no1 https://www.consumentenbond.nl/inboedelverzekering/slotenmak...