[406] in Privacy_Forum
[ PRIVACY Forum ] Serious Pollution of Google SearchWiki Results
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (privacy@vortex.com)
Sat Nov 22 16:59:24 2008
Message-Id: <200811222136.mAMLaVNM009903@chrome.vortex.com>
To: privacy-list@vortex.com
Date: Sat, 22 Nov 2008 13:36:31 -0800
From: privacy@vortex.com
Reply-To: PRIVACY Forum Digest mailing list <privacy@vortex.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Errors-To: privacy-bounces+privacy-forum=mit.edu@vortex.com
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Serious Pollution of Google SearchWiki Results Already Appearing
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000474.html
Greetings. Yesterday I expressed mixed feelings about Google's new
"SearchWiki" feature, noting that while the concept seemed to have
merit in theory, the ease of potential abuse -- combined with the
lack of mechanisms for sites to opt-out of the system or control
comments being left associated with their sites -- was of
considerable concern ( http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000473.html ).
Other observers have noted that there appears to be no way at
the moment for Google users who are logged in to opt-out of the
system either.
Unfortunately, it appears that significant abuse of the SearchWiki
comments system has already begun, as demonstrated by various
examples that upset readers have been e-mailing me since yesterday.
Most of these for now tend to fall into the "obscene trash"
category, and decorum prevents me from passing them along -- though
there are also signs that spam and more sophisticated abuse are
beginning as well. One trend already appearing (logically enough
from a human nature standpoint) is the defacing of search result
links associated with major sites such as Wikipedia. It's quite
jarring to see a serious search result displayed along with a string
of obscene banter, or in other cases just long displays of utterly
inane posers' back and forth comment chatter.
It's true that you don't have to look at the comments if you don't
wish to, but that's little consolation for sites who now will have
their Google search results associated with all manner of random
garbage, attacks, obscenities, spam, and whatever else the darkest
recesses of the mind can think up to abuse the audience that
SearchWiki provides.
Most people would never dream of abusing SearchWiki, but
unfortunately this doesn't mitigate the fact that a relatively small
percentage of users can do a great deal of damage due to the
asymmetric leverage that SearchWiki appears to provide them in its
current incarnation.
If Google wishes to emphasize the potentially positive aspects of
SearchWiki, and prevent Google's traditionally stellar search
results from becoming a playground for comment abuse that could
easily become a laughingstock -- or much worse -- I believe it is
absolutely crucial that appropriate control and opt-out mechanisms
be implemented as soon as practicable. With the best interests of
Google in mind, I urge them to do so.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren@vortex.com or lauren@pfir.org
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
- People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, NNSquad
- Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
_______________________________________________
privacy mailing list
http://lists.vortex.com/mailman/listinfo/privacy
