3 ms·

I wonder if it's even possible to fix Google search in the framework of a for-profit company. It seems like the trajectory of any ad-supported service eventuall

I wonder if it's even possible to fix Google search in the framework of a for-profit company. It seems like the trajectory of any ad-supported service eventually lands it in a "don't let the user out no matter the cost" phase. Perhaps such a service really does need to operate as a non-profit foundation of some sorts. There was a post about regulating Google like a public utility recently, but perhaps we should also consider looking at other less conventional internet "public utilities" - things like the Internet Archive, Wikipedia or essential open source projects like Debian. I think a search engine that's transparent both in terms of its logic and how it's maintained and managed might be the only way.

dannyw 6y ago
The other option would be strong antitrust enforcement; allowing competitors to emerge and compete with incumbents.
- icebraining 6y ago
  How would that work? What should an antitrust order demand Google to do in order to allow competitors to emerge?
  - therealdrag0 6y ago
    Well in this case, not steal their content. It's wrong for Google to siphon other businesses work for their own profit. Google shouldn't steal Genius or Yelp content. Facebook shouldn't steal YouTuber's content, etc. etc. It's not hard to see how if you were in the little guys shoes you'd feel screwed over. We need to innovate our laws to reflect that.
    - icebraining 6y ago
      It's not Genius' content. It's the musicians', who actually wrote the lyrics. If it was their content, they could sue for copyright infringement. Google has been sued on those grounds, and forced to change how they do their business (e.g. provide ContentID to handle copyright infringement on YouTube). But I suppose we could say "don't scrape and present content outside of a regular search result". But then again, Google claims they haven't done so - that they got those lyrics from LyricFind, a lyric licensing platform - and Genius didn't present any evidence that this wasn't the case. So I'm not clear on how could any laws help here. Finally, the question was not about Genius, it was about allowing competitors to Google to emerge. I don't see how would this help.

dannyw 6y ago

The other option would be strong antitrust enforcement; allowing competitors to emerge and compete with incumbents.

icebraining 6y ago
How would that work? What should an antitrust order demand Google to do in order to allow competitors to emerge?
- therealdrag0 6y ago
  Well in this case, not steal their content. It's wrong for Google to siphon other businesses work for their own profit. Google shouldn't steal Genius or Yelp content. Facebook shouldn't steal YouTuber's content, etc. etc. It's not hard to see how if you were in the little guys shoes you'd feel screwed over. We need to innovate our laws to reflect that.
  - icebraining 6y ago
    It's not Genius' content. It's the musicians', who actually wrote the lyrics. If it was their content, they could sue for copyright infringement. Google has been sued on those grounds, and forced to change how they do their business (e.g. provide ContentID to handle copyright infringement on YouTube). But I suppose we could say "don't scrape and present content outside of a regular search result". But then again, Google claims they haven't done so - that they got those lyrics from LyricFind, a lyric licensing platform - and Genius didn't present any evidence that this wasn't the case. So I'm not clear on how could any laws help here. Finally, the question was not about Genius, it was about allowing competitors to Google to emerge. I don't see how would this help.