5 ms·

Dear Google: It’s time to remove Russian propaganda from search results

10 points by siskiyou 5y ago

moltke 5y ago
I don't think we want search engines deciding what people should be looking at. They're tools.
- siskiyou 5y ago
  They already decide. That's their business.
- yetanother12345 5y ago
  > tools That term is a bit too broad. It does make a difference if said tool is a hammer or a pincer. Specifically they are FILTERS. And, extremely aggressive filters at that. For each 10 listings on the front page several millions of pages will not get an equal mention. Lots of people think that they are somehow "magnets" that will "pull out" the proverbial "needle" from the stack, but it is not so.
  - moltke 5y ago
    It's filtering for what it thinks the user is looking for (at least that's what's advertised) not what they want the user to be looking for.
mikece 5y ago
Title re-worded: "Dear Google: It's time to stop accepting money to display Russian propaganda in search results" That said... who defines what propaganda is and whether it's propaganda in se or due to circumstances?
Marine4Life 5y ago
And this will end just as well as when they said remove the fake news stating that COVID was from a lab leak? “Censorship is to art as lynching is to justice.” ― Henry Louis Gates Jr
- aww_dang 5y ago
  Expect more of this as users continue to move towards smart devices and wearables. The new censorship will increasingly redefine the past and present. Eventually you won't even know which questions to ask. There won't be a premise to start from. As to the example you gave of the last two years, perhaps it is too soon to bring that one up? There may be some here who would suggest that the problem wasn't inherent to censorship, but that the narrative wasn't controlled effectively enough. I forecast the "dangerous misinformation" theme to increase. Does anyone remember the days when hackers said, "Information wants to be free"? If so, is that memory part of the problem? >“When you use Google, do you get more than one answer? Of course you do,” he told public television host Charlie Rose at the time. “Well, that’s a bug. We should be able to give you the right answer just once. We should know what you meant. You should look for information. We should get it exactly right.” >"More and more searches are done on your behalf without you needing to type. I actually think most people don't want Google to answer their questions," he elaborates. "They want Google to tell them what they should be doing next." https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-innovations/google-competition-and-the-perfect-result/2013/01/04/fc3eceda-4551-11e2-9648-a2c323a991d6_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-innovations/googl... http://www.seobook.com/eric-schmidt-quotes http://www.seobook.com/eric-schmidt-quotes
- siskiyou 5y ago
  Google is not a neutral arbiter of search results. They always have their thumb on the scale, pushing low quality results down. That's appropriate here. State propaganda is low quality information.
squarefoot 5y ago
Also, Google Street View still has imagery of Kyiv and other cities that could somehow ease occupation.

10 points by siskiyou 5y ago

moltke 5y ago

I don't think we want search engines deciding what people should be looking at. They're tools.

siskiyou 5y ago
They already decide. That's their business.
yetanother12345 5y ago
> tools That term is a bit too broad. It does make a difference if said tool is a hammer or a pincer. Specifically they are FILTERS. And, extremely aggressive filters at that. For each 10 listings on the front page several millions of pages will not get an equal mention. Lots of people think that they are somehow "magnets" that will "pull out" the proverbial "needle" from the stack, but it is not so.
- moltke 5y ago
  It's filtering for what it thinks the user is looking for (at least that's what's advertised) not what they want the user to be looking for.

mikece 5y ago

Title re-worded: "Dear Google: It's time to stop accepting money to display Russian propaganda in search results" That said... who defines what propaganda is and whether it's propaganda in se or due to circumstances?

Marine4Life 5y ago

And this will end just as well as when they said remove the fake news stating that COVID was from a lab leak? “Censorship is to art as lynching is to justice.” ― Henry Louis Gates Jr

aww_dang 5y ago
Expect more of this as users continue to move towards smart devices and wearables. The new censorship will increasingly redefine the past and present. Eventually you won't even know which questions to ask. There won't be a premise to start from. As to the example you gave of the last two years, perhaps it is too soon to bring that one up? There may be some here who would suggest that the problem wasn't inherent to censorship, but that the narrative wasn't controlled effectively enough. I forecast the "dangerous misinformation" theme to increase. Does anyone remember the days when hackers said, "Information wants to be free"? If so, is that memory part of the problem? >“When you use Google, do you get more than one answer? Of course you do,” he told public television host Charlie Rose at the time. “Well, that’s a bug. We should be able to give you the right answer just once. We should know what you meant. You should look for information. We should get it exactly right.” >"More and more searches are done on your behalf without you needing to type. I actually think most people don't want Google to answer their questions," he elaborates. "They want Google to tell them what they should be doing next." https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-innovations/google-competition-and-the-perfect-result/2013/01/04/fc3eceda-4551-11e2-9648-a2c323a991d6_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-innovations/googl... http://www.seobook.com/eric-schmidt-quotes http://www.seobook.com/eric-schmidt-quotes
siskiyou 5y ago
Google is not a neutral arbiter of search results. They always have their thumb on the scale, pushing low quality results down. That's appropriate here. State propaganda is low quality information.

squarefoot 5y ago

Also, Google Street View still has imagery of Kyiv and other cities that could somehow ease occupation.