In my dissertation I outline the quest for the "perfect search engine" – a search engine capable of indexing all available information and providing fast and relevant results. The perfect search engine will have to have “perfect reach” to deliver…
Read More Google Universal Search: Half of the Perfect Search Engine
The Guardian reports on a patent filing by Google revealing how the company could compile psychological profiles of millions of web users by covertly monitoring the way they play online games: The company thinks it can glean information about an…
Last week, Ionut Alex. Chitu at Google Operating System posted an experiment to try to define Google collaboratively. He's now posted his favorite submissions. Guess which one is mine: Google is the most used search engine in my school, according…
Following up on their recent decision to "anonymize" its server logs after 18-24 months, Google’s Global Privacy Counsel Peter Fleischer has posted an explanation about why Google captures and retains users' search queries in the first place. While a good…
Read More Google’s Unsatisfying Explanation for Retaining User Search Data
No, that's not a new slogan for the Thai tourism bureau. Instead, it's the sad reality that Google is again aiding and abetting foreign governments' desires to censor speech and limit access to knowledge. Although freedom of speech was guaranteed…
Google has finally made the complete transformation. They are no longer some kind of benevolent, altruistic company trying to help people learn and grow by providing access to knowledge online. Now, they're just one of many .com companies trying to…
Unfortunately, Google's shareholders have rejected the anti-censorship proposal that aimed to ensure that the important human value of access to knowledge would be adhered to by the company who pledges to "do no evil." To say I'm not surprised is…
Read More Google Shareholders Reject Anti-Censorship Proposal
Philipp Lenssen points out that when you search Google for "she invented," on the results page you are asked "Did you mean 'he invented'?" There has been lots of discussion on this seemingly misogynistic "correction" that Google provides, and those…
New York City Comptroller William Thompson, Jr. has issued a petition on behalf of the New York City Pension Funds (which owns $276.2 million in Google stock) urging Google to take steps to counteract internet censorship in foreign countries with…
Read More Google Shareholders to Vote on Anti-censorship Resolution
Motivated by recent events, I'm pleased to announce that I have completed and filed my dissertation, "The Quest for the Perfect Search Engine: Values, Technical Design, and the Flow of Personal Information in Spheres of Mobility." All that awaits is…
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