Search and Find Bias

Target Acquired

On the radar today: how search engines may be the next frontier of political chicanery, because it turns out that (a) search engines are a strong source in helping undecided and young voters make a decision, and (b) if you read search results, your first reaction isn't "Gee, I bet these have been skewed to show the candidate in a favorable light." The results are seen as impartial.

This is not, of course, very surprising news; all you need to do is check on how enterprising pranksters have hijacked Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum's last name. (Do not do this at work, assuming you work in a routine office.) But it does give one pause, if only because of the following points:

1) Someone still has faith in a source of information in 2015, especially when that source of information is a for-profit business? I'm all verklempt here. It's like hearing how your nephew still believes in the Tooth Fairy. Seriously, magical creatures sneak into your room and take something that used to be in your head. Sweet dreams, kids! But I digress.

It's easy to be jaded, to feel like we live in a cynical age, where everyone always thinks the worst of everyone. But then you hear how search engine results are swaying the opinions of undecided voters, because some just trust these entities so implicitly. We will look back on these days fondly, we will.

2) Just how soon will it be until some enterprising candidate, with a need to fill the news hole with something they don't have to pay for, comes out as Anti Google? (I know, I know, Google's popular and Doesn't Do Evil. Doesn't matter; they still have scads of money, are from easy to bash California, and have some nefarious agenda to deny votes to Candidate X. It'll play.)

Finally, this. Just in time for this to finally reach a level of visibility, it's time for the world to change, with lightning speed, really, from a display method (desktop and laptop) that worked for deep search results and high keystrokes, for one that, well, doesn't. So keep in mind when you see this story hit the mainstream, how it has already jumped the shark. Especially among the young'uns who 

But on the plus side, Google will have plenty of practice in working out the bugs in that Right To Be Forgotten rigamarole...

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