Author Topic: Web results filtered based on YOU - and you don't realize it  (Read 1111 times)

The Future

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Web results filtered based on YOU - and you don't realize it
« on: September 28, 2011, 08:21:49 AM »
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOE1HFEL8XA&feature=email

"What FACEBOOK and GOOGLE are Hiding from world."
Wise selfishness is taking care of everyone else so that they don't bring harm to you.

Dame

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Re: Web results filtered based on YOU - and you don't realize it
« Reply #1 on: September 28, 2011, 03:51:54 PM »
Profiling at its best; lol.

Atash Hagmahani

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Re: Web results filtered based on YOU - and you don't realize it
« Reply #2 on: September 29, 2011, 10:21:05 AM »
Install ghostery as a Firefox add-on.
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The Future

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Re: Web results filtered based on YOU - and you don't realize it
« Reply #3 on: September 30, 2011, 02:18:01 AM »
Maybe we should run a test and each search for a particular term, capture a screenshot and post it here to see the differences....who is game?
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Atash Hagmahani

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Re: Web results filtered based on YOU - and you don't realize it
« Reply #4 on: September 30, 2011, 04:17:28 PM »
I admit I'm curious but I'm too paranoid to have allowed it to get that far; I don't use google directly, and I've already blocked its profiling capabilities.

I'm pretty sure, though, that I've noticed the profiling capabilities anyway, before I blocked them. Adsense kept delivering advertisements for not particularly common products that I had, in fact, bought, such as commercial art and professional fonts. Not a coincidence.

Now I need to turn up Ghostery, as the problem is worse than I had realized.

Install ghostery and find out for yourself.

Facebook so far seems to be the most intrusive of all.
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The Future

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Re: Web results filtered based on YOU - and you don't realize it
« Reply #5 on: October 01, 2011, 03:36:11 AM »
So would you be game to compare results with your settings vs mine/others?
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silverseeds

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Re: Web results filtered based on YOU - and you don't realize it
« Reply #6 on: October 03, 2011, 10:27:57 PM »
So would you be game to compare results with your settings vs mine/others?

I am

Atash Hagmahani

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Re: Web results filtered based on YOU - and you don't realize it
« Reply #7 on: October 04, 2011, 11:30:26 AM »
I'm a coward. I'm not sufficiently technically able that I could put the genie back into the bottle.
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silverseeds

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Re: Web results filtered based on YOU - and you don't realize it
« Reply #8 on: October 04, 2011, 01:56:24 PM »

  Im not technically savvy enough to stop it... Ive noticed for a very long time my search results are altered in this way. the main computer I use more often gets much different results then the laptop my wife predominantly uses. Advertisement my screen are almost always silver or seeds or survival type gear. There have been times I had my parents look something up so they could see a story and they have a hard time even finding it. this is extremely scary actually, because those who are aware of certain things can continue to learn about them. Those who do not are unlikely to be exposed to it despite have the net at their fingertips. Its horrifying actually. Brave new world stuff.

Dame

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Re: Web results filtered based on YOU - and you don't realize it
« Reply #9 on: October 04, 2011, 02:15:41 PM »

  Im not technically savvy enough to stop it... Ive noticed for a very long time my search results are altered in this way. the main computer I use more often gets much different results then the laptop my wife predominantly uses. Advertisement my screen are almost always silver or seeds or survival type gear. There have been times I had my parents look something up so they could see a story and they have a hard time even finding it. this is extremely scary actually, because those who are aware of certain things can continue to learn about them. Those who do not are unlikely to be exposed to it despite have the net at their fingertips. Its horrifying actually. Brave new world stuff.

I have noticed the same thing(s), and when I look up something for others I have difficulty finding it.  I generally forward links and hope they will work for the person to whom they were forwarded.

The Future

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Re: Web results filtered based on YOU - and you don't realize it
« Reply #10 on: October 05, 2011, 07:05:22 AM »
I'm a coward. I'm not sufficiently technically able that I could put the genie back into the bottle.

At the risk of opening the bottle you refer to or another, what are you talking about regarding cowardice?
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Atash Hagmahani

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Re: Web results filtered based on YOU - and you don't realize it
« Reply #11 on: October 13, 2011, 06:28:06 PM »
I don't want to remove the protection I have on my computer for google's, or anyone else's, spying.

But I'm waking this topic back up, because some thoughts have occurred to me ever since I realized just how much Facebook is filtering information (my blog syndication has recently been effectively torpedo'ed).

I have a feeling that there is a bug in Facebook's algorithms; most of my friends are starving out because a few very chatty friends are somehow unconsciously (or maybe consciously!) gaming the algorithm at the expense of quieter folks, so as to dominate my news feed. I probably unconsciously participated in this algorithm by responding to some of these people's very frequent posts (the more posts I see, the higher the probability that one of them might provoke a response), thereby making the problem WORSE.

What I should probably do is visit each friend and "Like" a post by that friend.

The TED talk doesn't mention another issue: this will eventually morph into a more sinister form of censorship. A very interesting type by the way; you might not realize it's happening.

We could all be profiled, then the algorithms decide that some of us are not ALLOWED to know certain facts, because they might lead us to "thoughtcrime".  :char039:



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The Future

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Re: Web results filtered based on YOU - and you don't realize it
« Reply #12 on: October 14, 2011, 03:28:47 AM »
Ok. To be clear I wasn't asking you to run a search without your protection.  In fact it might be interesting if everyone searches as they normally do and posts a screen shot.  Search term suggestions?
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hippiechick

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Re: Web results filtered based on YOU - and you don't realize it
« Reply #13 on: October 14, 2011, 06:58:52 AM »
Interesting....as he mentioned on the video, each friend typed in "Egypt". One got vacation information, one got current news events. I typed Egypt and got religious articles on Egypt. I currently use the internet for many religious and biblical studies, so although I haven't researched the religion of Egypt. Goggle screened for me and gave me those articles.
Wow I feel invasion of privacy here. I have also noticed especially the ads I see on the net are programmed for me based on previous sites I have shopped at.
How much better is it to get wisdom than gold. Proverbs 16:16


 

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