Editorial: Google's Threat to Democracy Hits AlterNet Hard
We all need to stand up and push back against Google's monopoly on steroids.
By Don Hazen / Executive Editor, AlterNet
September 28, 2017, 11:49 AM GMT
https://www.alternet.org/media/editorial-googles-threat-democracy-hits-a...
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Thumbkinetic (Bluestnote)
on Saturday, September 30, 2017 – 11:30 pm
I've tried.
I've tried.
But Bing really sucks.
At least I'm not in the FaceBag
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: donster Nod
on Saturday, September 30, 2017 – 11:58 pm
try https://duckduckgo.com/
try https://duckduckgo.com/
NO search history to track peeps or trigger ads
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Fly Fly
on Sunday, October 1, 2017 – 12:18 am
I quack
I quack
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Strangha Slickrock
on Sunday, October 1, 2017 – 09:41 am
Never heard of duck duck go.
Never heard of duck duck go. Thanks for turning me on to that. Installed.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: 19.5 Degrees FaceOnMars
on Sunday, October 1, 2017 – 10:56 am
Interesting read, and
Interesting read, and troubling if true.
With about 70% of the search market, it's difficult to dispute the monopoly position Google currently enjoys. If you think it through, I think there's a very good reason they haven't been broken up. In particular, I believe they're in cahoots with our intelligence agencies. If you were running the NSA, would it be easier to setup shop in one location to tap into 70% of internet users or in 3 or 4 different search engines with 20%?
Google has long used both the number incoming links and the "nature" of said links in terms of "credibility" as one of the major signals that affects rank. It wouldn't be difficult on their end to tweak the formula to give a boost to "mainstream" sites. For that matter, they could easily manually construct a white list of all major news sources in short order.
Factor in loss of net neutrality at some point down the road, and only the "biggies" will see the light of day ... squelching the visibility and reach of smaller independent news mediums.
There are significant political ramifications to this sort of trend, it only entrenches the status quo establishment even more ... essentially serving as a built in "swamp maker".
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Dr. Benway daylight
on Sunday, October 1, 2017 – 01:45 pm
>>>But little did we know
>>>But little did we know that Google had decided, perhaps with bad advice or wrong-headed thinking, that media like AlterNet—dedicated to fighting white supremacy, misogyny, racism, Donald Trump, and fake news—would be clobbered by Google in its clumsy attempt to address hate speech and fake news.<<<
translation - "we thought fake news meant right wing news sites, but google actually means to reduce search results for all highly partisan news sources. we didnt realize that our highly partisan left wing material would be included in this, we thought fake news just meant stuff we disagree with."
seems like they considered it to be a good thing when they thought google was only going to go after right wing news sites, and now that they realize google is also going to go after highly partisan sites on the left, and their ad revenue will drop, they are crying like little babies.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: St. Mark The Lion
on Sunday, October 1, 2017 – 02:39 pm
That was pretty much my
That was pretty much my takeaway as well, Daylight.
It's only funny when it's happening to the other guy.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Oaksterdam Dan Nugstradamus
on Monday, October 2, 2017 – 04:52 am
Twitter and Facebook gave us
Twitter and Facebook gave us President Donald Trump but Alternet's fake news
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DOJ demands Facebook information from 'anti-administration activists'
http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/28/politics/facebook-anti-administration-acti...
Washington (CNN)Trump administration lawyers are demanding the private account information of potentially thousands of Facebook users in three separate search warrants served on the social media giant, according to court documents obtained by CNN.
The warrants specifically target the accounts of three Facebook users who are described by their attorneys as "anti-administration activists who have spoken out at organized events, and who are generally very critical of this administration's policies."
One of those users, Emmelia Talarico, operated the disruptj20 page where Inauguration Day protests were organized and discussed; the page was visited by an estimated 6,000 users whose identities the government would have access to if Facebook hands over the information sought in the search warrants. In court filings, Talarico says if her account information was given to the government, officials would have access to her "personal passwords, security questions and answers, and credit card information," plus "the private lists of invitees and attendees to multiple political events sponsored by the page."
These warrants were first reported by LawNewz.com.
Facebook went through seven months of legal proceedings so it could make all three of the Facebook users aware that the government attorneys wanted their online details.
"We successfully fought in court to be able to notify the three people whose broad account information was requested by the government," a Facebook spokesperson said Friday. "We are grateful to the companies and civil society organizations that supported us in arguing for people's ability to learn about and challenge overly broad search warrants."
The American Civil Liberties Union, representing the three Facebook users, filed a motion to quash the warrants Thursday.
"What is particularly chilling about these warrants is that anti-administration political activists are going to have their political associations and views scrutinized by the very administration they are protesting," said ACLU attorney Scott Michelman.
Facebook was initially served the warrants in February 2017 along with a gag order which barred the social media company from alerting the three users that the government was seeking their private information, Michelman said. However, Michelman says that government attorneys dropped the gag order in mid-September and agreed that Facebook could expose the existence of these warrants, which has prompted the latest court filings. Michelman, however, says all court filings associated with the search warrant, and any response from Facebook, remain under seal.
The Justice Department is not commenting on these search warrants, but government attorneys have issued a similar search warrant to the web provider DreamHost seeking wide-ranging information about visitors to the website disruptj20.org, which provided a forum for anti-Trump protestors. In that case, DOJ modified its initial search warrant seeking millions of IP address for the visitors who merely clicked on the disruptj20.org website. But DC Superior Court Judge Robert Morin largely granted prosecutors' request to collect a vast set of records from the company, which will include emails of the users who signed up for an account associated with the website, and membership lists.
In addition to the account of Talarico and her disruptj20 page, the search warrant also seeks all information about the personal accounts of Lacy MacAuley and Legba Carrefour. Carrefour is a self-described political activist and pushed back against the search warrant in court filings, saying that his Facebook account "contains a significant amount of private material concerning my personal life." Carrefour denied that he was involved in any of the riots in Washington, DC, on Inauguration Day, but acknowledged that he has "participated in or helped to organize dozens of demonstrations and events of various types in service of political causes."
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: 19.5 Degrees FaceOnMars
on Wednesday, May 30, 2018 – 02:40 pm
https://www.reuters.com
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-eu-alphabet-antitrust/yelp-seeks-to-r...
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Yelp Inc said on Tuesday it has renewed a European antitrust complaint against Alphabet Inc’s Google, seeking to gain traction on a longstanding accusation that the search giant unfairly promotes its own services in results.
A similar complaint Yelp filed in 2014 has not led the European Union to issue a formal charge against Google, nor have letters and testimony to U.S. regulators led to charges.
But the company said it has strengthened its complaint by looking at the EU’s ruling last year that Google misused its dominance in product shopping search results. Google, which is appealing a $2.9-billion fine in that case, declined to comment.
Yelp also took into account Google’s rebuttal to an antitrust complaint in Brazil related to shopping results.
The heart of Yelp’s concern remains the same: That Google’s local search tools, such as business listings and reviews from Google Maps, receive top billing in results while links to Yelp and other sources of potentially more helpful information are listed much lower.
“When a mother does a search for a pediatrician in Berlin...she is being siphoned into an inferior experience powered exclusively by Google’s local review content,” Luther Lowe, Yelp’s senior vice president of public policy, told Reuters.
The Financial Times first reported on the new complaint.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: _ ender
on Wednesday, May 30, 2018 – 02:48 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKOb-kmOgpI
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: _ ender
on Wednesday, May 30, 2018 – 03:33 pm
Here's another Alternet
Here's another Alternet editorial from last year mocking the absurdity of the Right complaining about Google's bias. I'm guessing it got a little less "absurd" when the algorithm shifted and hit their pocketbook.
https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/utter-absurdity-right-accusin...