[The Sabbaticus]

The Filter Bubble: How the hidden web is shaping lives

[youtube]6_sim_Wc3mY[/youtube]

Pioneer in online campaigning Eli Pariser lays bare the forces controlling our online lives and argues for a new vision of a freer web.

1. Talking Points:

- 'if you like this, then you like that'
- surrounded by a membrane of personalized filters
- with clever and indirect data points they can determine your preferences
- it takes only five data points
- the top results are different for each google user

- users see different pictures of the world
- ad sales determine the relevance
- you don't get to choose what's in your filter bubble (commerce does)

Living in this filter bubble world results in three problems:

1. distortion (don't know what the editorial viewpoint is, how distorted is your view? Are politics driving it, alongside commercial interest?)

2. the psychological equivalent of obesity: the filter bubble pushes you to information junkfood, information which is more easily digested. 'If you like this, then you like that.' Basically kittens over news.
(11:50)

3. a matter of control; limits our freedom

Conclusion: In 20th century society information was controlled by gatekeepers. Now we see the advent of new gatekeepers; google, facebook and co. They determine what you will see, and what not. You become stuck in a web of one.

2. My view:

Google can produce another form of isolation - the web of one - which leaves you more vulnerable to manipulation by corporate parties and governments. Everyone becomes their own little digital autist. Not only that, but the search results are also heavily manipulated by private actors for their own commercial gain. Most users don't look past the first 10 results.

The commercial tendrils manipulating the supposedly 'neutral' search results of google are manifold. Relevance is determined by commerce, not neutral interest.