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Report finds Google Skewed Search Results in favor of it's own services

Dolorian

Dolorian

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Apr 25, 2007
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Interesting...

In a lengthy investigation, staffers in the FTC’s bureau of competition found evidence that Google boosted its own services for shopping, travel and local businesses by altering its ranking criteria and “scraping” content from other sites. It also deliberately demoted rivals.

For example, the FTC staff noted that Google presented results from its flight-search tool ahead of other travel sites, even though Google offered fewer flight options. Google’s shopping results were ranked above rival comparison-shopping engines, even though users didn’t click on them at the same rate, the staff found. Many of the ways Google boosted its own results have not been previously disclosed. […]

The report’s findings are at odds with Google’s descriptions of its search practices. Then-Chief Executive Eric Schmidt, now executive chairman, told a Senate panel in 2011 that “he was not aware of any strange boosts or biases” in Google’s results. “I can assure you we’ve not cooked” the results, Mr. Schmidt added.
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Source: DaringFireball via The Wall Street Journal
 
Thank God the FCC approved Net Neutrality.

Next step: Altruistic government bureaucrats will protect us from Google's skewed search results with 600 turgid pages of regulations dictating search engine behavior.

/snark
 
Dolorian said:
I don't think it is the first time that he draws attention to things like this.
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i know. i also know if it was something to do with apple he wouldnt bring it up.

however i voiced my concern about behaviour/tactics like this on another thread not so long ago and was a bit shocked by the response i got as well as comments on news stories. the solution seems to be that everyone should start a search engine.

aaronvan said:
Thank God the FCC approved Net Neutrality.

Next step: Altruistic government bureaucrats will protect us from Google's skewed search results with 600 turgid pages of regulations dictating search engine behavior.

/snark
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600 pages for dont be biased? you could even paraphrase into 3 words prominent inside google dont be evil.
 
numlock said:
i know. i also know if it was something to do with apple he wouldnt bring it up.
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From what I have seen, he does. For example, he posted on the iPhone location tracking issue a few years ago: http://daringfireball.net/linked/2011/04/21/andy-ihnatko-location-log


the solution seems to be that everyone should start a search engine.
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Not sure how beneficial it would be for Apple to start their own search engine from scratch. They can probably make DuckDuckGo the default (since the Google contract is practically expired and I doubt they'll renew) as DuckDuckGo not only does not competes with Apple in any area but their views on privacy seem to align with them as well.
 
Dolorian said:
From what I have seen, he does. For example, he posted on the iPhone location tracking issue a few years ago: http://daringfireball.net/linked/2011/04/21/andy-ihnatko-location-log




Not sure how beneficial it would be for Apple to start their own search engine from scratch. They can probably make DuckDuckGo the default (since the Google contract is practically expired and I doubt they'll renew) as DuckDuckGo not only does not competes with Apple in any area but their views on privacy seem to align with them as well.
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but he tries to reason it in the second paragraph. there are quite a few things apple has done that he has never ever mentioned and most of the time if he does bring something up he a) either tries to find reasons/excuses for it or b) its buried in the middle of a long text.

but when i said everyone should start their own search engine (as in the solution proposed) i mean literally everyone not just giants like apple. you for your website and me for mine. that would be the requisite of owning and operating a website you wanted to make sure did not get unfair ranking.
 
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aaronvan said:
What is eight pages? The FCC's net neutrality new regulations are 400 pages. Please tell me they aren't really proposing search engine regulation.

http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/12/heres-the-text-of-the-fccs-net-neutrality-rules/#HiKtox:I1wj
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Yeah, 8 pages of that 400 page document are the regulations themselves. The rest is basically Q&A, explanations, history, and other random stuff as it pertains to the current ruling. You can tell by reading the table of contents on the page you linked me to.

Remember, the FCC expected to be sued by the ISPs. They wanted to make sure they crossed their t's and dotted their lower case j's. The regulations themselves are actually pretty light, not even being as heavy as what the internet was once governed by previously when it was primarily a telephone service.
 
Renzatic said:
Yeah, 8 pages of that 400 page document are the regulations themselves. The rest is basically Q&A, explanations, history, and other random stuff as it pertains to the current ruling. You can tell by reading the table of contents on the page you linked me to.

Remember, the FCC expected to be sued by the ISPs. They wanted to make sure they crossed their t's and dotted their lower case j's. The regulations themselves are actually pretty light, not even being as heavy as what the internet was once governed by previously when it was primarily a telephone service.
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Ah, thanks. I wasn't about to read the whole document, especially since we will see years of court challenges before anything is actually implemented.
 
aaronvan said:
Ah, thanks. I wasn't about to read the whole document, especially since we will see years of court challenges before anything is actually implemented.
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I can't blame you for not reading it. Legal documents are dry and devoid of action and drama. I only read them when I wanna one-up some in an argument.

But no, net neutrality doesn't apply to Google in this situation, because it's their services being advertised on their search engine. So long as they don't block or slow down access to their competitors services, they're not running foul of net neutrality. It might be a little unfair, but search is hardly a entrenched monopoly. They can post links in whatever order they want.

If you want the jist of what net neutrality is, it can be summed up like so:

"Okay, ISPs. You advertise yourself as a gateway to the internet. Your business is primarily centered around being a gateway to the internet, and has been since its inception. People pay for your service primarily expecting it to be a gateway to the internet. So now that everyone is using it, and it's become an integral part of society, you wanna game the system, and start acting as a toll booth for information to get some extra money on the side? NO, GODDAMNIT! You're a common carrier now. Sit down and shut up."
 
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