image credit: 4thmedia.org
I’ve been reading about the thumb-on-the-scale algorithms
built into searches and regular activities on Google, Facebook, YouTube, and so
on. A tech researcher, Dr Robert Epstein, was a guest on Fox News a couple of weeks
ago, so I recognized his name in an article today at Newsbusters. Here’s a
sampling:
Google has more power and control
than most people realize and a top tech researcher is warning about it.
In an interview at the D.C.
premiere of the Creepy Line, a documentary on the dangers
of Google and Facebook, Dr. Robert Epstein told the Media Research Center that
Google was building personal profiles of users mainly through Gmail. He warned
that Google was compiling information upwards of 3 million pages per user, and
said, “The more they know about you, the easier it is for them to manipulate
you without your awareness.”
Epstein explained what parts of
Gmail Google used to create these profiles: every single part.
“I can’t even begin to emphasize
how important it is that you not use Gmail. The problem is that it’s so
extensive it’s hard to condense into a sentence or two. But the point is that
they’re taking that information, not just from the emails you send, but even
from the drafts, those crazy drafts that you decide not to send, that all
becomes part of your personal profile. If you’re mentioning other people, that
goes into their personal profiles.”
He mentioned that it didn’t matter
if some users had emails outside of Gmail, those were on the profiles too.
. . .
[C]onservatives
have “special reasons to be concerned” based on the leaked emails and videos
from Google concerning the 2016 election. Detailing an article that he was
about to release, he said, “I describe 10 different methods by which Google and
big tech companies can shift millions of votes in the midterm elections coming
up in the U.S. I estimate upwards of 12 million votes.”
In the Fox interview I
watched, Dr Epstein made the point that the compiling of data and the manipulation of YOUR online activities to influence YOUR decisions, including your vote, are taking place and
leaving no paper trail. Scary. Read the rest here.
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