The Internet is a Cruel Mistress

"functionoverfashion" (functionoverfashion)
12/13/2018 at 09:25 • Filed to: Interwebz

[sort of politics, but really, this kind of thing could happen to anyone... right?]

Buffer image just because rules.

So now when you google ‘idiot’ and go to images, this is what you get (I did go to a private window to confirm it wasn’t skewed by being signed in) :

Then Google CEO Sundar Pichai was called upon - by Congress, no less - to explain it, and he says more or less “well, this is just how our algorithm works... we don’t manually intervene in search results... ” and now there are tons of articles all over the web drawing attention to the phenomenon and covering his testimony while also increasing the combination of this term and these images AND causing people to try it themselves, all increasing the likelihood of these images showing up in said results... it’s all a self-fulfilling, slippery-slope kind of thing. Tee hee.

DISCUSSION (24)

PartyPooper2012 > functionoverfashion
12/13/2018 at 09:29

California. Land of democrats. Wouldn’t expect anything different.

jimz > functionoverfashion
12/13/2018 at 09:30

a/k/a the “Barbra Streisand Effect.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect

farscythe - makin da cawfee! > functionoverfashion
12/13/2018 at 09:36

welp he is an idiot.... looks to me like pichais algorythm works just fine

it also wouldnt surprise me if its stops working soon coz hurting the presidents feefees is illegal now :p

R Saldana [|Oo|======|oO|] - BTC/ETH/LTC Prophet > functionoverfashion
12/13/2018 at 09:36

“ Private” mode does not eschew your browsing algorithm. truthfully if you want a completely clean browsing search attempt you either need to build a new machine (virtual machines also work) inside of a completely different network or by using a VPN as that new machines network access. Essentially you need to put your MAC addresses and IP address in a completely different scope.

Tripper > functionoverfashion
12/13/2018 at 09:37

Haha, buffoon and moron net nearly the same results.

Ash78, voting early and often > functionoverfashion
12/13/2018 at 09:42

I hate this effect....BUT...

Not as much as I hate the “personalization” of search results.

I like the idea that Internet searches are like a huge library. It’s not my personal concierge — I have specific websites or apps if I want that.

I like the idea that if I type a search into Google or Bing, I’ll get the exact same results as you will, not something “curated” for me based on what I’ve clicked before, or where I live, etc. In a larger, philosophical sense, this is automatically building in bias to a giant system that is supposed to be fair and neutral.

Same with my news feed or whatever. If I want biased/personalized crap to reinforce my existing beliefs , I’d use facebook. But I don’t. So stop facebooking my internet!

/rant over

functionoverfashion > Tripper
12/13/2018 at 09:47

No ‘felon’ yet, but maybe soon

TheRealBicycleBuck > functionoverfashion
12/13/2018 at 09:49

Google Bomb.

https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/google-bombs/

I once managed a top-rated family website. It was for an unusual surn ame, so it was the first site that popped up in the results when that name was googled.

When I found out about Google Bombing, I wasn’t sure if it was real or hype, so I used the website to drop a google bomb on a friend of mine. It worked. Hilarity ensued.

Not long afterward, Google de-rated the website. Now it doesn’t even make the top-ten pages. I can’t say it was in retaliation for gaming their algorithm, but it sure was an interesting coincidence.

functionoverfashion > Ash78, voting early and often
12/13/2018 at 09:50

Agreed. It’s a tough one, because when I type in ‘hannaford’ I like that my local grocery store’s hours pop up. Just as an example... It’s a fascinating problem that has not been solved, clearly.

DipodomysDeserti > Ash78, voting early and often
12/13/2018 at 09:55

Preach!

Unfortunately, we’re realizing the internet isn’t actually being used to spread knowledge, but is instead just another means of selling shit.

Ash78, voting early and often > functionoverfashion
12/13/2018 at 09:56

I’m ok with that effect if I use Google Maps (which I use 99% of the time for things like store hours or phone numbers). It’s a huge help to automatically limit it to my area.

I just don’t want to type in “New Hampshire Skiing ” and have Google show me a video of “My new hamster skiing HILARIOUS ANIMAL VIDEOS” :D

I feel like we’re about a year away from that.

functionoverfashion > Ash78, voting early and often
12/13/2018 at 10:04

W ell, lay off the hamster searches, then! Also, come skiing in New Hampshire! Wait, how did you know.... oh yeah it’s the internet

fintail > functionoverfashion
12/13/2018 at 10:07

Looks accurate, I don’t see what the whining is all about.

The best thing about this is that it gets politicos who don’t know how anything works to spout off about it, maybe because truth hurts or to distract from the endless corruption and malfeasance of their regime:

https://gizmodo.com/steve-king-demands-list-of-google-staff-so-he-can-check-1831032193

DAWRX - The Herb Strikes Back > Ash78, voting early and often
12/13/2018 at 10:07

I’ve switched to DuckDuckGo for this reason on all my devices, and actually I switched away from android entirely because I prefer the way Apple handles my data . I still use chrome on my work computer, but whatever.

I’ve also been looking at switching email clients from gmail to something else that doesn’t track me or read my emails to figure out what to advertise to me.

I don’t want to live in an echo chamber either, and if it means that I sacrifice some convenience then so be it .

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > Ash78, voting early and often
12/13/2018 at 10:11

I sometimes use an incognito tab/VPN just to see what “other people” see for certain searches

Ash78, voting early and often > functionoverfashion
12/13/2018 at 10:17

I’ll just show up at Manchester airport with a $20 bill and ask the gate agent where functionoverfashion lives. Everyone knows each other there, right?

Be afraid!

functionoverfashion > Ash78, voting early and often
12/13/2018 at 10:25

You know, my mother volunteers at the airport in the info booth. So actually...

WilliamsSW > fintail
12/13/2018 at 10:31

King is all about distracting from malfeasance and corruption. Most of that crowd is “ win at ALL costs”. T hey DGAF about distractions like “ laws” and “ morality” and “ the constitution".

Ash78, voting early and often > functionoverfashion
12/13/2018 at 10:35

Shit just got too real.

fintail > WilliamsSW
12/13/2018 at 10:53

I try to refrain from “worst generation ever” unfair cliches , but here I am and here it is . King is trash and so are those who support him.

I’ve noticed that 99.999% of those who whine about the constitution can’t name anything other than the second amendment.

Mercedes Streeter > Ash78, voting early and often
12/13/2018 at 10:54

This is why I cannot recommend DuckDuckGo enough. It’s basically Google without all of the backend BS and reinforcing an echo chamber.

Mercedes Streeter > R Saldana [|Oo|======|oO|] - BTC/ETH/LTC Prophet
12/13/2018 at 10:59

Decided to do the search on a testing computer at work (used for testing peripherals) and the results largely look the same. While Google tries to enforce echo chambers, their algorithm also can be gamed by a sort of “ Streisand Effect” .

Trump also comes up on the first page of results on DDG as well, but there are far fewer pictures of him popping up ...probably as it should be.

Ash78, voting early and often > Mercedes Streeter
12/13/2018 at 11:01

You’re the second one to mention that, thanks -- I had never heard of it until just now!

Milky > PartyPooper2012
12/13/2018 at 11:12

Yupp. Having search results reflect what people are searching for.