[governance] need for regulation ....

[McTim]

On Mon, Mar 10, 2014 at 2:19 PM, Guru गुरु <Guru at itforchange.net> wrote:

>  Grande CA,
>
> With due respect, the argument that 'you need not use Google search' is
> quite impractical/rhetorical.
>



no, it is not.  I've used duckduckgo/yahoo and bing all day today to prove
the point that it can be done.


Search is essential to meaning making and in today's digital society, let
> us not delude ourselves that we can do without Google search.
>


sure we can.  Why don't you try it and see for yourself!



> Google search is a monopoly  (conventional meaning - dominant market
> share) for very good reasons, of which its algorithms perceived superiority
> is an important one, but also its HUGE economic power invested in numerous
> data centres that help crawl/store and crunch the indexed information fast
> enough to make the engine formidable.
>
> You find my argument difficult to accept,  because you have perhaps
> already imagined that the only way search can work is in its current form
> -where it is offered in a secretive manner by a for profit entity -  where
> you_can_not_be_sure that the commercial interests of the search engine
> would affect your actual agency in searching.
>


There are many other ways search can work.




> Sorry, did I said you cannot be sure,   I should have said -
> YOU_CAN_BE_SURE that google's commercial interests would make it fiddle
> with the search algorithms in ways that would maximise its profit (Read Eli
> Pariser on how Google search engine is manipulating search for maximising
> its profits ...and in this process could be giving the world a global
> lobotomy, article attached! So whose to care? so long as we all click on
> the EULAs, all is well?)
>
> Whether these manipulations by Google, would be within current legal
> limits or could cross these limits is what for instance Indian CCI is
> investigating. We have NO_IDEA.
>
> *Another world is possible*
> We could imagine search otherwise as well ... as a huge public digital
> library, where neither information nor its search need to be proprietary.
>


The beauty of the Internet is that you don't need permission to go ahead
and build this yourself.




> In my view, I CANNOT see any other way to prevent manipulation of
> algorithms by the vendor for maximising their profits.Whether this
> manipulation is legal or not can only be detected by knowing the algorithm :-)
> ,
>
>

Even a non-profit would manipulate their algorithm according to someone who
didn't rank highly in their search.



>  The  "JustNetCoalition's" principles and roadmap can be something we can
> take forward for building a just and equitable net. See principle 8 of the
> JNC principles on this issue (also attached) and share your thoughts...
>
>

I think that if I build a better mousetrap I shouldn't have to make the
design public so my competitor can try and beat me with my own design!


-- 
Cheers,

McTim
"A name indicates what we seek. An address indicates where it is. A route
indicates how we get there."  Jon Postel
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