People are not as DUMB as they appear!

[Jose Fly]

I entered that quote into Chrome and Chrome Incognito. The results were identical:

Was Noah's ark real? - Denison Forum
https://www.denisonforum.org › Resources

Was Noah's ark real? - Denison Forum
https://www.denisonforum.org › was-noahs-ark-real-2

Was Noah's Ark Real? - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com › watch

was Noah's ark real Archives - Truth Snitch

This is puzzling since Incognito supposedly does not track "history and favorites".

Chrome is just basically Google, right?

 

[ecco]

Chrome is just basically Google, right?

Yes. I specified Chrome to differentiate from Bing, etc.

 

[WalterTrull]

I only look at the bad reviews, and see if they're based on something important (like an actual flaw in the product, not "the installer looked at me funny").

The problem with bad reviews is that they are often bogus reviews from or paid for by competitors.

 

[Jose Fly]

The problem with bad reviews is that they are often bogus reviews from or paid for by competitors.

That's true, but usually those are easy to spot. You can usually tell when it's a review from a person who actually bought the product (something competitors obviously don't do).

 

[WalterTrull]

That's true, but usually those are easy to spot. You can usually tell when it's a review from a person who actually bought the product (something competitors obviously don't do).

True

 

[Jeremiah Ames]

If you haven't seen the documentary "The Social Dilemma" on Netflix yet, it is definitely worth a watch. There were a few key takeaways for me, that I think about every time I try to research a topic online.

1. Any digital service that is offered for free (any free app), browser, etc. is not a product. YOU are the product being sold to advertisers.

2. The "purpose" of social media platforms like Facebook, Youtube, Instagram etc. is to keep you engaged as long as possible. The longer you are engaged, the more valuable you are as a commodity because they are able to serve more ads to you.

3. Google tailors search results that keep you engaged, based on your personal browsing history. Google has no interest in "getting you the correct answer". If you are trying to find out what is "true" by typing in a question, the results have nothing to do with giving you the facts needed to make a decision. You will be given information based on what you are most interested in. What will keep you engaged. In other words, WE DO NOT ALL SEE THE SAME INFORMATION when we research a topic on the internet. If we do not all have the same information, its no surprise we disagree on so much, so often.

For example, if a Christian and an atheist type in a question like "Was Noah's Ark Real" or something like that, the information that is displayed will generally support the viewpoint of the person asking the question. The Christian, theoretically, would get results that support the narrative he already holds true, and the atheist would as well. Neither would have easy access to all of the same information the other has. You could do what you think is very detailed and thorough research and still primarily only see biased versions of the "facts" tailored to you.

Admittingly, having access to the same information certainly doesn't mean you will agree (how many different kinds of Christians are there all reading the same bible?). It also means that people who disagree with you aren't necessarily as dumb as they appear, they simply have been convinced based on different information. Perhaps if we all had the same information, we would find ourselves less divided?

well, that’s scary

thanks a lot

 

[Friend of Mara]

I'm fine with licensing doctors, & with HIPAA.
But I see no need to greatly limit data selling.

Other than the fact that the same contributing factors cause the echo chambers that lead to things like the insurrection at the capital or interfering with elections.

The amount of harm that can be done is so great its hard to quantify. Police have already been using our data in court cases. Intelligence agencies have access to information that can allow them to know us allegedly as well as a spouse. I'm not too keen on the government or a corporation having that much information on me. The alternative is an off the grid style life that gives up the majority of the benefits of technology.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

This thread is why I love adblockers, and am not ashamed to use them or state that I use them. There is zero and no and null chances of changing my mind on it.
I also like confusion the hell out of advertisement algorithms, that just cannot figure out who I am as a person.

This is puzzling since Incognito supposedly does not track "history and favorites".

I've always assumed it takes in what is there up to that point.

 

[Kooky]

If they have different information and that different information is given to them by Googles algorithm and that algorithm is giving them their information based on their search history, then they have been as dumb as they appear before they used Google.
Don't blame Google for your stupidity, it gives you only what you deserve.

Google is the God of the Internet era, omnipresent, omniscient, omnibenevolent - dispensing swift justice and retribution, and we will all stand before it come Internet Judgement Day. There is only one Google, and it is Google.

 

[Revoltingest]

....contributing factors cause the echo chambers that lead to things like the insurrection at the capital or interfering with elections.

I don't see the relationship between this
& data harvesting + selling.

The amount of harm that can be done is so great its hard to quantify. Police have already been using our data in court cases. Intelligence agencies have access to information that can allow them to know us allegedly as well as a spouse. I'm not too keen on the government or a corporation having that much information on me. The alternative is an off the grid style life that gives up the majority of the benefits of technology.

Another alternative is simply to exercise care
in what one divulges in the various venues.

 

[Kooky]

I don't see the relationship between this
& data harvesting + selling.

The entire point of data harvesting is to segment a user base in ways that makes it useful for advertisement.

Echo chambers are useful because they cluster individual users so that they can be better reached by targeted ads (e.g. Youtube channels with conservative audiences receive ads targeting conservatives, and be sponsored by conservative-friendly brands, while those with woke audiences receive ads from woke brands). This allows for much more efficient advertisement. The identity politics associated with echo chamber discourse tend to be productive vectors for brand loyalty as well.

Another alternative is simply to exercise care
in what one divulges in the various venues.

That's not really how the Internet works these days.
Every single one of us leaves a data trail.

 

[Revoltingest]

Echo chambers are useful because they cluster these segments so that they can be reached by more targeted ads, and the identity politics associated with them tend to be productive vectors for brand loyalty (e.g. by clustering ads for woke brands among the woke crowd, while conservative clusters get ads for brands that speak to them intead)

All doable by just going to the echo chamber itself.
And the worse of those are on the dark web.
Might be harder to advertise there.

 

[Kooky]

All doable by just going to the echo chamber itself.

How would they know where to look for those? Nobody memorizes URLs any more.

The pipeline effect of funneling people towards ever more extreme content and towards ever more tighter echo chambers improves the clustering effect I just talked about. This is the advantage social media platforms have over traditional ad content - they allow advertisers to shape audiences into proper segments.

You can't control who is going to watch your TV ad most of the time, but with proper data harvesting and profile construction you can control who is watching which ad on a social media platform.

 

[Revoltingest]

How would they know where to look for those? Nobody memorizes URLs any more.

The pipeline effect of funneling people towards ever more extreme content and towards ever more tighter echo chambers improves the clustering effect I just talked about. This is the advantage social media platforms have over traditional ad content - they allow advertisers to shape audiences into proper segments.

You can't control who is going to watch your TV ad most of the time, but with proper data harvesting and profile construction you can control who is watching which ad on a social media platform.

I prefer avoiding regulating advertising where practical.
Targeting is fine with me....even useful.

 

[Heyo]

Google is the God of the Internet era, omnipresent, omniscient, omnibenevolent - dispensing swift justice and retribution, and we will all stand before it come Internet Judgement Day. There is only one Google, and it is Google.

I'm an aGoogleist.

 

[Brickjectivity]

A decade ago US Congress considered a bill which would tax each email message! The public heard about it and complained, so congress acquiesced and did not levy an email tax. The idea of paying for internet service and then being taxed on a virtual communication implementation running on top of it...we did not like. It was too much like taxing air or taxing eye blinks. It was also an invasion of our privacy, an audit of our private communication.

The public began sharing music through the internet. The record stores whined, and the music sellers. They said this was theft which would kill the industry. The industry did not wish to sell over the internet and wished to keep selling on physical media. Some people said the music industry signed its own gravestone by refusing to innovate, trying to sell songs in packs instead of singly and on physical media. The industry also feared losing the market, because the internet was everywhere. Others agreed that the internet killed off a lot of music sales and did not blame lack of innovation. Many music stores closed. No one gave a final answer as to why. Music stores did not like any of the answers. One music store closed, and I read on its door a message accusing people in general of stealing.

yahoo mail and gmail appeared, as did other free email services I was one of the early adopters, part of the 'Beta' program. It was reliable, free email. I wondered when they would start charging for it. What was the catch?

Youtube appeared, gained dominance and was purchased by Google (now Alphabet). I wondered how they could sustain so much video without advertising? Then many years later they added advertising.

There is no free lunch.

 

[Friend of Mara]

I don't see the relationship between this
& data harvesting + selling.

...? Actually don't see it? It is the collection of this data that allows them to access it. If they couldn't hoard this data then no government or corporation could use it.

Another alternative is simply to exercise care
in what one divulges in the various venues.

This isn't about what you type and share on social media. This is about the fact that the phone can listen to you even when no "apps" are running and still generate targeted adds. Your phone not only tracks every location you go to, the frequency in which you go there, the length of time you go there but also who you go there with and a profile web of the people you interact with. So much so that they might send you adds for "birthday gifts for men in the 50's" if you spend time in the office with a coworker who's dad is having a birthday soon.

The information they have and can/do extrapolate from you barely begins at what you "post". Its more than google searches, liked photos and tweets.

 

[Friend of Mara]

I'm an aGoogleist.

If you have an android phone or roku tv they already got your number.

 

[Revoltingest]

...? Actually don't see it? It is the collection of this data that allows them to access it. If they couldn't hoard this data then no government or corporation could use it.

OK.
I just see other ways to target an audience.
And again, this isn't all bad.
If they had better data, I wouldn't have gotten all those
ads about single Christian women wanting to meet me.

This isn't about what you type and share on social media. This is about the fact that the phone can listen to you even when no "apps" are running and still generate targeted adds. Your phone not only tracks every location you go to, the frequency in which you go there, the length of time you go there but also who you go there with and a profile web of the people you interact with. So much so that they might send you adds for "birthday gifts for men in the 50's" if you spend time in the office with a coworker who's dad is having a birthday soon.

The information they have and can/do extrapolate from you barely begins at what you "post". Its more than google searches, liked photos and tweets.

One can take precautions, eg, covering
that camera on the computer.

 

[Friend of Mara]

OK.
I just see other ways to target an audience.
And again, this isn't all bad.
If they had better data, I wouldn't have gotten all those
ads about single Christian women wanting to meet me.

Must be the profile pic

One can take precautions, eg, covering
that camera on the computer.

You can take certain precautions. The camera isn't really a big issue since it doesn't record unless your device is hacked. But your phone right now is listening to you. I don't know if you speak Spanish or have Spanish speakers in your house or not. If you don't put your phone next to a radio on a Spanish channel for a few hours and see if you start getting adds in Spanish. For extra fun turn off all your apps.

Also there are google searches that will automatically put you on a watch list. There are google searches that you can do from the privacy of your own home on your own computer that can put you on the "no fly list" which will inhibit you from traveling. You won't be notified you are on this list until you try to board a plane. Now as much as these searches are super ****ed up and those people probably deserve to be on a no fly list I still don't like the idea of the government knowing exactly what you do online at any given moment and we have no power to stop this. And again equally for corporations since they will misuse this information the moment it is profitable.