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Impact of the internet in politics
effects of electronic media on politics.
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Over the past decade or so, an increasingly amount of information has been published and communicated over the World Wide Web. Search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing have become the most important gateways to access the web. Mainly, the ultimate goal of a search engine site is to provide personal and relevant results to the user. However, search engine sites have developed a few ethical issues that leads to favoring of certain kinds of sites over others in the lists of results they return to consumers in their response to search queries.
Many users who use search engine sites may assume that they are neutral, but studies conducted on search engine technology argue that search engines are in fact biased because of the kinds of features included in their design (Introna 1). In an article, “Shaping the Web: Why the Politics of Search Engines Matter,” Nissenbaum argued the neutrality saying search engines sites “systematically exclude certain sites, and certain types of sites, in favor of others, giving prominence to some at the expense of others” (1). When a user is looking for information of a topic and is directed to one website rather than another on the same issue, search engine bias is raised. While there are many potential sources of search engine bias, the practice of paid search is a unique form of search engine bias. Paid advertising encourages online consumers to click on web pages listed favorably in the results, not based on the most relevant article/website to their search query. Eszter Hargittai states, “the concern is that search engines that are guided by profit motives may point people away from the most relevant and best quality sites in favor of those that have paid the highest bids for placement on the ...
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...such as Google has created about me. However, one expert doesn’t believe search engine technology is built to be neutral, stating, we should “neither demand nor expect to receive information that is objective” (Blanke). He says that search engine technology was not built to do such a thing and that search engines are not capable to deliver neutral and objective results (34). Although this expert sees it as incapable, Eric Goldman sees it as a “beneficial consequence of search engines optimizing content for their users” (Goldman 196). He also claims that personalized ranking algorithms recue the effects of search engine bias because there will be multiple “top” search results of a particular search instead of a “single winner” (197). Similar to trust, objectivity is a big concern to users, as they don’t like the lack of transparency that search engines express.
Since its creation, the Internet has continuously grown in importance as a means to obtain information. This is due in part because it is not censored like the rest of America’s mainstream media, such as television, newspapers, and the radio. Nevertheless, the issue of censorship has raised many controversial issues, not only in the United States, but also throughout the world. In the debate by Intelligence2 (2008): Google Violates its Don’t be Evil Motto, it is argued that Google has violated its self declared motto that it wouldn’t be evil, thus putting people’s interest before their own corporate financial interests. While Google has committed certain questionable acts I do not believe they have violated their motto. Harry Lewis, Randal Picker, and Siva Vaidhyanathan argue that this violation is exposed in Goggle’s agreement to cooperate with the Chinese government in exchange of a larger monetary market and in its advertisement market (Intelligence2, 2008). Nevertheless, Esther Dyson, Jim Harper, and Jeff Jarvis argue that while such actions have occurred, the good it has brought to the over all population exemplifies their don’t be evil motto.
place. It should be left up to the users to decide what is broadcast. Most
Carr, Nicholas. "Is Google Making Us Stupid." July/August 2008. The Alantic Magazine. 20 February 2012 .
In composing “Is Google Making Us More Stupid” Nicholas Carr wants his audience to be feared by the internet while at the same time he wants his work to seem more creditable. Nicholas Carr uses many different types of evidence to show us that we should be scared and feared as well as his credibility. Carr’s audience is people who think like him, who find themselves getting lost on the internet while reading something, someone who is educated and uses the internet to look up the answers to questions or to read an article or book.
Various web-based companies have developed techniques to document their customer’s data, enabling them to provide a more enhanced web experience. One such method called “cookies,” employs Microsoft’s web browser, Internet Explorer. It traces the user’s habits. Cookies are pieces of text stored by the web browser that are sent back and forth every time the user accesses a web page. These can be tracked to follow web surfers’ actions. Cookies are used to store the user’s passwords making your life easier on banking sites and email accounts. Another technique used by popular search engines is to personalize the search results. Search engines such as Google sell the top search results to advertisers and are only paid when the search results are clicked on by users. Therefore, Google tries to produce the most relevant search results for their users with a feature called web history. Web history h...
Carr, Nicholas. "Is Google Making Us Stupid." TheAtlantic.com. The Atlantic Magazine, July/August 2008. Web. 18 February 2012.
This report will describe the history of government regulations and FTC. How that applied to Google search and personal privacy. The changes made from the settlement between Google and the FTC, the difference Google's practices and policies from before the settlement and after the settlement, and the current demands and expectations from current and vocal Google users. The report will also draw a conclusion from the findings and will determine if additional regulations are needed or if the regulations currently in place are sufficient.
The two companies that created these search engines have billions of dollars and numerous other resources at their disposal available for the research, the development and the innovation of their products or services. But even if you have all the funds in the world at your fingertips, if you have a bad brand image in the consumers eyes your brand will have extreme difficulty inserting itself in the market. So how does the public perceive these brands?
One of the most recent examples of ethics and technology conflicts in the United States are privacy issues and how we cite, distribute and publish intellectual property on the internet. For instance, many corporations and people take advantage of the open access of the internet and the lack of legislation governing the right to post and upload information to the internet. Today, nearly every household in the United States has a computer with int...
Now that we are living in an ever changing world, technology is viewed as the most resourceful tool in keeping up with the pace. Without the use of technology, communication would be limited to using mail for delivery and encyclopedias for research. Although technology has improved the way we communicate and find information for research, the information is not always valid. Unfortunately, for those of us who use the internet for shopping, research, or reading articles of personal interest the information is not treated the same as a your magazine or book. While such literature is reviewed by an editorial staff, internet literature or information can be published by anyone. In order to reap the full benefit of having the use of technology for any purpose, there are five basic criteria’s one must keep in mind as an evaluating tool for deciding whether or not the particular website is a reliable source for information.
There has been a surprising change in society, which computer engineering has brought about . The Internet in particular is changing every activity of our daily lives. Today just about every advertisement on television, radio and in print carries a web address. It is not unusual for consumers to research a purchase on the Internet before buying. Websites offer thousands of pages of detailed information. Chat rooms and news groups attract many people with opinions t...
Google is the largest search engine across the globe, which has significantly transformed the use of the Internet as an information source. The influence of Google in Internet use as information source is evident in the fact that by June 2010, it accounted for more than 70 percent of total Internet searches in America. In addition to its success and profitability in the global market, Google is renowned as a highly ethical company as demonstrated in its corporate philosophy features. However, the firm’s behavior during the launch of its China-based search engine in 2006 generated huge skepticism from the United States government and several human rights organizations (Baker & Tang, p.2). Since the launch of Google’s Chinese search engine, the company complied with China’s censorship regulations by deciding to filter out terms that are considered politically sensitive. This decision attracted criticism from political leaders and human rights activists who accused Google of betraying its adopted ethical standards by ignoring the essence of freedom of expression and information access. As a result, Google faced a dilemma involving the clash between law and ethics. In the subsequent years, Google reacted to the dilemma by changing its rhetoric strategies in efforts to respond to the changing needs.
Buncombe, Andrew. “Google resists demand to hand over search records.” 15 March 2006. The Independent.
Internet commerce is one of the fastest growing industries today. With the wide range of capabilities the web has it make it easier and cost efficient for businesses to make transactions with other businesses. One factor that allows businesses to find each other is search engines. Search engines are part of the reason the web is growing so rapidly.
Gould, Carol C. (ed.) (1989). The Information Web: Ethical and Social Implications of Computer Networking. (Boulder, Colorado : Westview Press).