Re: [projectvrm] Right now: 4PM EST Please join Data & Society for this talk by Shoshana Zuboff

[Doc Searls < >]

> On Feb 13, 2019, at 6:43 PM, Paul Fraser 
> <
 >
>  wrote:
> 
> On 14/02/2019 9:40 am, Adrian Gropper wrote:
>> I switched my browsers to Duck Duck Go about a year ago and see no loss of 
>> functionality whatsoever.
> As I understand it, Duck Duck Go uses Google Search when necessary.

It white labels Google Search.

While Google buries the setting (about eight pages into the privacy settings 
in your Google account, at the very end) you can turn off "ad 
personalization."

I've tried turning it on and off, and see no difference in results. I do see 
differences between Google and DuckDuckGo, however: more ads in the latter, 
much of the time. It's hard to figure out.

A point here is that search itself is personalized enough for nearly all 
advertising. In my own A/B testing, having it on yields no advantage. To say 
Google actually "knows" me is to project an unwarranted conceit on a machine 
rigged just to sell me shit.

By the way, for most things I find Bing, especially around images, better 
than Google. But I'm sure they spy too.

> If they do this by retrieving google search results without disclosing the 
> end user, how long will google put up with this?

As long as DuckDuckGo pays them. :-)
> 
> May be time to revisit Duck Duck Go.
> 
>> My point is that Zuboff talked a lot about democracy and how it's up to us 
>> to evolve it to extinguish surveillance capitalism. All of us "users" can 
>> start by voting with our feet with respect to digital services. Facebook 
>> anything and Google Search can be the first to go.
> The man in the street votes purely with self interest in mind.

Not always. But I'm not sure that's worth arguing.

> How many of them will vote with their feet? A massive shakeup is necessary 
> for a change in attitude.
> 
> Bikeshedding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_triviality is a major 
> problem with democracies and the media. The internet just amplifies this 
> problem.
> 
> Groupthink is another, but that's enough for the moment..

Well, the Internet amplifies that too.

But it also provides more stuff than ever to put in an open mind.

Doc
> 
> Paul Fraser
> 
>