De-Democratization in Innovation's Clothing

Introduction

The Internet is eliminating our ability to live anonymously. Google is attempting to perfect its ability to know exactly what we have done, are doing, and will do, with the stated goal of making our experiences on the Internet better in some way. Having amassed a mind-boggling amount of data about us as individuals, Google is increasingly tailoring what we are presented with as we browse the Internet to what they think we will “like.” This applies to everything from the ads we look at, to the search results we are presented with, to what stories are positioned at the top of our news feeds. Having tailored the Internet experience to the individual user, Google ostensibly improves the experience because the user is more likely to appreciate the advertisements, click on the top link presented in a search, and read the news stories generated. But the story isn’t all that rosy. Steps backwards in democracy have been cloaked in steps “forward” in technology.

Tracking

Google remembers everything we search for. It does this in order to “improve” our search results, over time. It also do this in order to improve its sales pitch to advertisers choosing where to spend their marketing dollars. Though the company’s motto is “do no evil,” it has some trouble controlling some of the evil activities of its employees. By tying our entire search history to our IP addresses, Google destroys any anonymity we once hoped for in our use of the Internet.

Google is becoming more open and transparent about these issues. The multi-million dollar “Good to Know” ad campaign the company launched in February shows us that the company has recognized (and validated) the public’s fear about what Google knows. Chief amongst those fears is that the company will release information about us to the government when subpoenaed (or asked politely). Google finds itself between a rock and a hard place, though. Giving users piece of mind would be nice, but not at the expense of losing its ability to generate advertising revenues, which amounted to $9.3 billion last year and accounted for 96% of Google’s total revenues. Given Google’s financial data, it is hard to believe the company wants us to be able to easily search anonymously. If it did, it could make its most private settings options active by default and put the link to its privacy center prominently on its homepage.

Effects on Participation in Democracy

The Internet is the most powerful tool mankind has ever created to connect people with information. Ideally, American citizens use the Internet at least in part to become more informed about the issues of our day and to make their participation in our democracy more informed. But the lack of anonymity associated with out Internet use seriously hinders that goal.

The Filter Bubble

Coined by Eli Pariser, the "filter bubble" is the concept that individuals are decreasingly exposed to conflicting viewpoints as Google and other websites become better at tailoring search results to users. This creates an intellectual bubble that grows harder to escape as one continues to use the Internet. This is troubling because Internet users genuinely attempting to become more informed but unaware of how Google works are lulled into a sense of enlightenment when, in reality, they are only presented with an increasingly small fraction of relevant information and viewpoints. We can agree that nothing is worse than uninformed political zealots preaching biased nonsense.

Recently, Adam Kovacevich, a Senior Manager of Public Policy Communications at Google, came and spoke to my media industries class about privacy concerns at Google and about the company’s goals. One of the more terrifying things he said was that Google’s aim is to narrow down search results to one link per search. The company is aggressively moving away from the old “ten blue links” approach. Failing to recognize the value in a range of results for any given topic, Google’s stated goal is to now shrink the size of the filter bubbles we all find ourselves in. It’s a shame that the most important shapers of the most powerful information tool in human history is actively trying to hide more and more of the Internet from us.

Duck Duck Go

Duck Duck Go is an alternative search engine that has gained popularity of late. Recognizing the market’s desire for privacy in search, this company has made an effort to make search more anonymous. Though imperfect, the website does take some useful steps towards making our searches safer. In doing so, Duck Duck Go frees itself from any and all ethical dilemmas that may arise as a result of government subpoenas, creepy employee tendencies, or security breaches. The following are some of the important things the search engine does to keep search more private:

• No collection or storage of User Agent or IP address
• No collection of browser cookies
• Links to encrypted versions of major websites by default

These steps combine to prevent the search engine from knowing anything about its user as an individual, with a few important effects. Most obviously, the search is anonymous and the potential for abuse of a user's search data is alleviated. Secondly, the user's experience is much more reminiscent of the "ten blue links" that Google used to employ. This means that though the top results are not as likely to be clicked on by the user, the user is presented with a wider array of perspectives on a given search because it has not been tailored to fit the perceived perspective of the user.

Duck Duck Go’s efforts are important, but incomplete. The websites the search engine directs the user to still know who users are, even if they don’t know the search terms used to find them. More than anything, though, the increasing popularity of this alternative search engine is an important signal that Internet users are, in fact, concerned about their privacy, even if its implications on this country’s democracy are lost on them.

-- RoyMoran - 26 Mar 2012