Search engines - Public or Private accountability?

Matt Keegan — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 18:48:09 +0000

Search is fundamental to how we find things online. There is simply no way around it, other than via StumbleUpon which we all know has recently been acquired by eBay.

I am not one for all out government regulation of the internet (heck, this isn’t communist China) but the search engines have a responsibility to police themselves or otherwise risk falling under government scrutiny.

Search engines - Public or Private accountability?

robwatts — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 21:26:23 +0000

Cheers Adam, good point too – its good to break through veneers of fluffiness and cotton candy.

G’s had a good ride, they really can’t complain.

Search engines - Public or Private accountability?

Adam W — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 20:40:41 +0000

Great post Rob, more people need to keep their eyes on what the Big Boys are really up to

Search engines - Public or Private accountability?

robwatts — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 08:25:09 +0000

Thanks for the comments guys. I don’t mean to sound like I’m anti google, I’m not. I just think aspects of how they behave are a little unnecessary and a step too far.

I get the myriad of internal competing pressures from sales and marketing people yelling, “more info more info more info” I gethow useful and juicy and powerful such data is. But jesus one has to draw the line somewhere, and if that means legislative action then so be it. Its up to them to avoid it. If they end up being strictly legislated then they’ll only have themselves to blame.

Maybe their current levels of profitability just aren’t enough…sigh

Search engines - Public or Private accountability?

Steven — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 01:27:50 +0000

Interesting thoughts. It’s kind of scary how much information Google has and they’re only getting more with each purchase they make (FeedBurner, etc.).

Search engines - Public or Private accountability?

Shane — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 23:19:03 +0000

Every company gets to a certain size and gains a certain amount of “evilability”. Google’s no different.

I don’t know what the future of search is, or privacy, but honestly, I think it’s in the splintered form of social networking. Over time we all build up a network of people and sites that we trust. None of them are big enough to control as much as the search engines do …

I don’t know! Just some thoughts.