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| Cyber |
| How google search works |
| 2019-08-16 |
| [US News and World Report] ...So far so good, except of course for the mistakes and the delisting problem; one might even say that Google is performing a public service, which is how some people who are familiar with the quarantine list defend it. But I also mentioned that Google somehow blocks people from accessing websites directly through multiple browsers. How on earth could it do that? How could Google block you when you are trying to access a website using Safari, an Apple product, or Firefox, a browser maintained by Mozilla, the self-proclaimed "nonprofit defender of the free and open internet"? The key here is browsers. No browser maker wants to send you to a malicious website, and because Google has the best blacklist, major browsers such as Safari and Firefox – and Chrome, of course, Google's own browser, as well as browsers that load through Android, Google's mobile operating system – check Google's quarantine list before they send you to a website. (In November 2014, Mozilla announced it will no longer list Google as its default search engine, but it also disclosed that it will continue to rely on Google's quarantine list to screen users' search requests.) If the site has been quarantined by Google, you see one of those big, scary images that say things like "Get me out of here!" or "Reported attack site!" At this point, given the default security settings on most browsers, most people will find it impossible to visit the site – but who would want to? If the site is not on Google's quarantine list, you are sent on your way. OK, that explains how Google blocks you even when you're using a non-Google browser, but why do they block you? In other words, how does blocking you feed the ravenous advertising machine – the sine qua non of Google's existence? Have you figured it out yet? The scam is as simple as it is brilliant: When a browser queries Google's quarantine list, it has just shared information with Google. With Chrome and Android, you are always giving up information to Google, but you are also doing so even if you are using non-Google browsers. That is where the money is – more information about search activity kindly provided by competing browser companies. How much information is shared will depend on the particular deal the browser company has with Google. In a maximum information deal, Google will learn the identity of the user; in a minimum information deal, Google will still learn which websites people want to visit – valuable data when one is in the business of ranking websites. Google can also charge fees for access to its quarantine list, of course, but that's not where the real gold is. |
| Posted by:3dc |
| #5 Microsoft was prosecuted for tying, and their behavior stopped. Why hasn't Google received the same DOJ scrutiny and prosecution that MS did? The EU has prosecuted GOOG successfully again and again, and handed out billions in fines. Why no action against this monopolist in our country? Could it, possibly, have anything to do with the 250+ White House meetings between GOOG execs and Obama White House officials, or the revolving door between GOOG and the Obama administration, or the board seat and tens of millions of $$ worth of GOOG options showered upon former VP Gore, or ....? |
| Posted by: Lex 2019-08-16 12:11 |
| #4 Turning the Internet into a 19th Century Company Town one blacklist at a time. Microsoft tried, will Google Inc. succeed? |
| Posted by: magpie 2019-08-16 11:52 |
| #3 Classic monopolistic behavior. Digital version of 19c robber barons dominating the commerce AND the railroads without which the towns can't survive. Break these bastards up. |
| Posted by: Lex 2019-08-16 01:21 |
| #2 Google Document Dump Website |
| Posted by: 3dc 2019-08-16 01:20 |
| #1 Readers have called my attention to a 10th Google blacklist, which the company applies to its shopping service. In 2012, the shopping service banned the sale of weapons-related items, including some items that could still be sold through AdWords. Google's shopping blacklisting policy, while reasonably banning the sale of counterfeit and copyrighted goods, also includes a catch-all category: Google can ban the sale of any product or service its employees deem to be "offensive or inappropriate." No means of recourse is stated. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2019-08-16 01:09 |