[governance] 'search neutrality' to go with net neutrality

[Ralf Bendrath]

McTim schrieb:

> On Tue, Dec 29, 2009 at 11:12 AM, Parminder <parminder at itforchange.net
> <mailto:parminder at itforchange.net>> wrote:

>     Secondly, I will move away only if I knew what logic/ algorithm
>     Google used, and so I can decide if it works for me or not.
>  
> Either it works or it doesn't.  If PageRank doesn't give you what you
> need, then try Yahoo or Bing.  We, as IGC (or even CS asa whole) can't
> expect to seriously ask Google to show us their patented IP, can we? 
> While we are at it, why don't we insist that coca-cola publish their
> recipe for Coke or that KFC tell us exactly what their secret recipe is?

While I agree with McTim that "search engine neutrality" and NN are two
different things, I would like to add that Google can provide the
services it does also because of network effects. Once you are socially
"forced" to use google wave or other collaborative tools, it's much more
difficult to just ignore it. The same argument has been made about
Facebook and the likes before, and Google may be moving into this
direction. And if you use it, they can use it for persoalized search
results, which may be better for each person than the competitors can offer.

So: There is a diference between networked technologies and simple
consumption goods such as KFC or Cola.

>     So can we at least ask it to publish its logic of arranging search
>     results so the consumers can make a choice. It is a wrong thing to ask?
>  
> yes

I would say "no" at least if it involves personaly identifyable data. If
thiey use data about me, they should tell me what they know about me and
how they treat me based on that.

But the underlying conflict here seems to be that McTim and Lauren see
TCP/IP networks as "the network" to be subject to NN regulations. Others
see platforms/networks based on TCP/IP - such as Facebook, Google, but
also OpenID and related functional providers - as a new and emerging
network. Just like umpty years ago, people would see the copper wire
network as "the network", and not yet understand that TCP/IP on top of
it was "the network" to be regulated in the future.

Bottom line: Don't under-estimate the emergence of networks at layer 7.

Open quuestion: Is this a case for "internet governance", or just for
"network governance"?

Best, Ralf
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