Google washes search results

The Register ^ | 012/14/2008 | andrew orlowski

[slnk_rules]

Google this week admitted that its staff will pick and choose what appears in its search results. It's a historic statement - and nobody has yet grasped its significance.

Not so very long ago, Google disclaimed responsibility for its search results by explaining that these were chosen by a computer algorithm. The disclaimer lives on at Google News, where we are assured that: The selection and placement of stories on this page were determined automatically by a computer program.

A few years ago, Google's apparently unimpeachable objectivity got some people very excited, and technology utopians began to herald Google as the conduit for a new form of democracy. Google was only too pleased to encourage this view. It explained that its algorithm "relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page's value. "

That Google was impartial was one of the articles of faith. For if Google was ever to be found to be applying subjective human judgment directly on the process, it would be akin to the voting machines being rigged.

For these soothsayers of the Hive Mind, the years ahead looked prosperous. As blog-aware marketing and media consultants, they saw a lucrative future in explaining the New Emergent World Order to the uninitiated. (That part has come true - Web 2.0 "gurus" now advise large media companies).

It wasn't surprising, then, that when five years ago I described how a small, self-selected number of people could rig Google's search results, the reaction from the people doing the rigging was violently antagonistic. Who lifted that rock? they cried.

But what was once Googlewashing by a select few now has Google's active participation.

[slnk_rules]

Google is a wonderfully technically efficient company. Ideological partisanship has sunk better companies than them, though. Whom the gods would destroy, they first make insane proud. Google seems to have the attitude "We can do it because we are Google." Move over, GM.

[VaBthang4]

Great post.

[xcamel]

except...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2148534/posts
and
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2148523/posts

[HighlyOpinionated]

http://www.devvy.net/audio/

http://www.devvy.net/audio/dec08/communitarian_hoax.html

Listen to Devvy Kidd read The Great Communitarian Hoax. Hopefully this will come back into print. It explains exactly what is occurring today in the USofA and how Socialism is spread through Mandatory Community Service and the easy ‘jump’ from there to mindless sheeple accepting Marxism.

Scary stuff. Listen and learn.

[F15Eagle]

Google has, ummmm, other partners.

[Dick Bachert]

I stopped using Google as first choice search engine months ago — just for this reason.

[slnk_rules]

I really like dogpile, myself. I use it alot. I have to admit that google works better with linux, and I do love gmail.

[Always Right]

Between being overly commercial and outrageously too political, Google has ruined a once great product. I use to be able to find anything no matter how obscure, now I have to wade through a bunch of sites that want to sell me something and certain items are purposely hidden. There could be a big niche for someone who wants to make a clean search engine.

[AmericanMade1776]

So what search engine do you use.

[null and void]

Me too. I watched half a million hits on 0bama birth certificate disappear over a few days.

I use LiveSearch now. Never going back.

[Recovering Ex-hippie]

THANKS!

I just switched to livesearch for my websearch!

I feel so much better now!

[xcamel]

http://www.scroogle.org/cgi-bin/scraper.htm

worth a try

[AmericanMade1776]

I really want a search engine that pulls up the news articles to scan thru, and then search. Right now, I go to Drudge, Lucianne.com, and Free Republic to get the news.

[ChetNavVet]

Google bought You Tube, Sketch Up, and probaly lots of other stuff. In the corporate world, the philosiphy is not to “devide and conquor”, but aquire what cannot be stomped out.

There is nothing inherently evil about what corporations do.

Google seeks to buy out, consolidate, and rule the information world. The fact they have a leftist agenda is really the only thing that makes them evil.

[clee1]

Agreed.

I use Yahoo as my homepage; but I hate it’s search function. I like Google, but I refuse to support a company with their leftist bias.

I use Dogpile.

[Paladin2]

HMMM....livesearch....

Wouldn't that be run by the chair throwing Balmer? The new leftist Gates?

[Dick Bachert]

Several:
Dogpile
Metacrawler
Altavista
Webcrawler

And as many problems I have with Microsoft, I hope they can give Google Earth a severe beating. Nothing like competition.

[Always Right]

Agreed. I use Yahoo as my homepage; but I hate it’s search function. I like Google, but I refuse to support a company with their leftist bias. I use Dogpile.

I just checked out one called Clusty.com....I need to run more tests, but right now it looks like a winner.

[angkor]

>>>>>I use LiveSearch now. <<<<<<<

Google or Microsoft = Scylla or Charybdis

[RhoTheta]

I don’t know what you gain by using Scroogle to avoid the mind control experiments on Google. It looks like Scroogle’s purpose is to be a firewall to protect your identity from Google, but still uses Google searches to obtain links. This means you are just as susceptible to Google’s “editorial policy” as before.

http://www.scroogle.org/ has a diagram of what they do.

[slnk_rules]

Google seeks to buy out, consolidate, and rule the information world. The fact they have a leftist agenda is really the only thing that makes them evil.

Could not agree more. They are a wonderfully innovative and savvy company. I do think that because they are an INFORMATION company, they are blind to the how poisonous an ideological agenda will actually be to them. It is like viewership of the network news. Everyone laughs at it because they don't trust it. Google, with all its top notch stuff, could be a glitzy PRAVDA in a few years (although PRAVDA is actually a fairly decent news org nowadays).

[AmericanMade1776]

Do any of those search engines have a News Homepage. Where you just read the headlines before searching?

[Recovering Ex-hippie]

Ok, guys...based on NOT being a lefty and being technologically superior...which is the best search engine?

[null and void]

Yeah. I’m firmly in the Mac camp.

[IrishCatholic]

bookmark for later

[AmericanMade1776]

I think I am going to use AOL.com for my homepage news instead of Yahoo for awhile.

[Always Right]

The problem with dogpile, is that it is just a regergitation of yahoo and google results. I think I like the results better from clusty.

[Las Vegas Ron]

Try cuil.com (pronounced cool)

It was started by the original creator of Googles algorithm and is someday supposed to rival Google.

[SouthTexas]

Well DUH, grasp of the obvious.

Haven’t used Google in over a year.

[Nateman]

Google will find out , just as the dying lamestream media is, that if you can’t do the job you are supposed to do, people will go elsewhere.

[Always Right]

try out clusty.com....the few searches i have done, it has been very good.

[padre35]

“the fact that the have a leftist agenda..”

Well there is that..

I still use Alta Vista, tried Dogpile and was not impressed, tried Cuil...no thanks...

[Paladin2]

It’s similar to the quandary of what medium to use for one’s archival backup of digital data. There may be no good answer, much less a good, long term answer.

[bolobaby]

Don’t forget the new kid on the block:

www.cuil.com

[SouthTexas]

An '06 article on Google's "purging".

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

How true. I even find shopping through them next to impossible compared to what it used to be. Looked for tickets to “Kids In the Hall” a few months ago. The first few Google results gave prices well over $100. Knew that was stupid so I looked harder. Found out that Ticketron was less than $50. Thing was I found out later that others saw the same first few results I did and didn't dig any further for better prices. They didn't want to pay for the high cost tickets and missed the show which they would have went to with reasonable ticket prices.

[cgbg]

When you offer a consumer a product and suggest it is one thing when it fact it is a radically different thing that is called "consumer fraud".

Let the consumer complaints begin!

If Google wants to avoid this trouble they can try this disclaimer on their web page:

"Warning, we are ideological one-world government socialists--and we have edited our search engine to reflect our values. If you want uncensored information go elsewhere."

[pointsal]

check out “The California Chronicle” for a news page

[csvset]

I’ve used Clusty for the past couple of years. I rarely use Google.

[Right Wing Assault]

Good one! From the article.

[slnk_rules]

There have been a number of complaints about Google. Enough that I had no doubts that some censorship was going on. However, having worked in large organizations, I knew that “unofficial” censorship can happen, even when it is frowned upon. When you get a clatche of the uber-hip together, I expect some of that, whether management approves or not.

However, the interesting thing about this is that Google has just come out and admitted it, and stated they are a part of it. This cannot be good for google itself.

I am not one of those who is constantly screaming about the cultural biases we have, nor do I have much respect for the constant petulant whininess of conservatives about it. I happen to believe that the militant atheistic hatred of Christian values by elements of our culture make for wonderful evangelistic opportunities, and great chances to argue for freedom, liberty, and a rollback of federal power.

My purpose in posting the article was not to alert freepers to the fact that goog is biased (in your words “DUH”). It was a notice that things are out there and above board in the bias.

Thanks for the coment, anyway.

[AmericanMade1776]

Ty for the tip.

[craig_eddy]

I used to work across the parking lot from one of Google’s original office buildings. Al Gore was a very frequent visitor. That was all I needed to know.

[Rappini]

Thanks for the tip, I just tried it and I like it I searched for info on my Polish Radom and got some nice hits.

[SouthTexas]

I tend to view their “admission” as Yeah, we cheat, and....

I rarely rant on the subject and I said I haven’t used it in over a year, it’s been longer than that. It became blatantly obvious when I searched for “anti-global warming” and got articles on flat earthers.

Their admission is akin to the MSM reporting that there is corruption in Illinois politics.

[tophat9000]

bump 4 later

[NoControllingLegalAuthority]

I checked out cuil.com and find it excellent. I changed my home pages on both my laptop and desktop to cuil.com

I like it's search results paragraph format. It reminds me of summaries on library cards we used to search at the public libraries under the dewey decimal system.

It claims to search more than 124 billion pages - ALL of the Internet.

I found pages relating to one search subject that I had never found with google.

[NoControllingLegalAuthority]

Correction: I like its (not it’s) search results....

[lentulusgracchus]

[CNV] Google seeks to buy out, consolidate, and rule the information world. The fact they have a leftist agenda is really the only thing that makes them evil.

[s_r] Could not agree more. ...

Disagree. "Rule the information world" is malum in se as it presupposes an agenda of monopolistically limiting other people's freedom of choice in order to extract rents or impose a vision, or both.

[adorno]

There could be a big niche for someone who wants to make a clean search engine.

Not exactly a search engine in the traditional sense, but here's what I'm working on:

A categorized cross-reference for:

• News Articles
• Columnists
• Editorials and Commentaries
• Informational Articles
• Discussions related to the Articles

Articles may be searched by 2 main methods:

• Title Search (3 sub-methods):
  • Exact Title Match (up to 100 characters)
  • Match On All Entered Words
  • Match On Any Entered Word
• Detailed Search (May include any, or all, or any combination of the following):
  • Categories & Sub-Categories (Search May Include Multiple Categoreis and up 4 levels)
  • Subjects covered within article (Multiple Subjects/Topics may be selected)
  • Authors (Writers) / Columnists
  • Publishers
  • Publisher Types (Newspapers, Magazines, TV, Radio, etc.)
  • Dates or Dates Range
  • Country, or Region, or City related to the news in the article
  • Number Of Hits (To select from the more popular articles)
  • Any Combination(s) of the above