Google told to halt auto-complete

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/news/internet/Google-told-to-halt-auto-complete/articleshow/12413586.cms

94 46 14 years ago

timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Why turn it off instead of tweaking it?

micaeked• 14 years ago

seems like that is what they are going for (according to the text of the article, not the title): "...financial damages in a bid to press Google to erase the suggested search..."

Tichy2• 14 years ago

As a nice side effect, the criminal guy with the same name will suddenly find it much easier to find a new job.

rmc• 14 years ago

Google have the ability to do this, since they don't include any sexual terms in the auto-complete.

kamjam2• 14 years ago

I thought people also have the ability to turn it off themselves - at least i thought they did, I'm struggling to find the option now. There is also another option to turn off instant update of the search results, which annoys the hell out of me (this is only for people logged into their Google account)

In any case, I'm sure it's just a case of Google flipping a switch somewhere...

shasta• 14 years ago

The funny thing is that if these new stories included the man's name, it would naturally probably bump the old ones off.

dennisgorelik2• 14 years ago

That's probably one of the main goals of the plaintiff - to loudly claim: "I'm not that bad guy with the same name".

rbarooah• 14 years ago

"Google has responded to the man's complaints by saying that since the results are compiled automatically there is no intrusion of privacy"

It's hard to see how this case is about privacy - it seems like it's really about defamation, however the real details aren't disclosed.

That said, the argument that because something is done by a machine the operators are not responsible for the consequences needs to be debunked once and for all.

AkThhhpppt5• 14 years ago

Yes. The "nothin' to do with me, guv, it's the algorithm's fault" attitude is disingenuous and unhelpful.

LesZedCB4• 14 years ago

Up until you said that, I assumed that was the general feeling. Though, I've never been in this situation myself. Can you qualify why that attitude is disingenuous and unhelpful?

kamjam2• 14 years ago

Google has so far refused to take action, saying Japanese law does not apply to its US headquarters and its own corporate privacy policy, Tomita told reporters.

I found this quite funny given all the recent events regarding domain names, MegaUpload, PirateBay, MAFIAA etc etc. Now if only the US would take the same view and leave the rest of the world alone...

AznHisoka2• 14 years ago

Those auto-completes can be gamed, as most of them are just searches most people have done. What you do is get a large group of people to search for <NAME> + something else.

Of course you need to be creative, so rather than tell your friends, make it a contest or something. Or in your Linked In profile and email signature, put something like "If you want to see my latest resume, just google "<NAME> resume".

mseebach3• 14 years ago

Aka Google bombing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_bomb

AznHisoka2• 14 years ago

Google bombing usually means artificially trying to get a webpage to appear #1 for a specific keyword. This technique is not about trying to rank, but trying to get a phrase to appear in the search suggestions. Not many SEO blogs have even touched on this...

JohnnyFlash• 14 years ago

Did Google even defend against this in the Japanese court? I don't understand how this could get by if they did.

The fact is that names are not unique. Would he be complaining if his namesake was a renowned scientist / businessman / whatever?

Just because someone with his name is linked to crime does not mean that he is. It simply means that someone with a similar or same name is known for their criminality. I don't have what I would term as a popular name but hundreds of people share it. I would imagine in countries with far denser populations that meeting someone with the same name would be fairly common.

I would also like to see an employer who received a CV. Went to Google and typed in half a name and without even searching discarded the CV because auto-complete had shown the name along with a buzz word like crime.

newman314• 14 years ago

Your name may not be unique. That's not necessarily true for everyone else.

Given the prevalence of search, I would not be surprised at all if employers (more specifically recuriters) did a search and discard. It does not mean it's right or ethnical. But afaik there are no legal ramifications currently. Which is unfortunate.

dennisgorelik2• 14 years ago

If you try to forbid every case of stupid behavior in legal system - legal system would be totally unmanageable.

drhowarddrfine• 14 years ago

When I look at "Wanted" posters, some of those guys have the same first name as me. Can I sue?

You can find a scum lawyer anywhere in the world, can't you? I assume he has proof all his charges are true.

andos2• 14 years ago

Do you know what kind of auto-completing Google should really halt? Spoilers. Do not type Game of Thrones character names on Google.

EDIT. I'm really, really sorry. I didn't mean to spoil by implying that there are spoilers. I removed the character name.

mseebach3• 14 years ago

Huh? I get "actress", "quotes" and "imdb".

andos2• 14 years ago

You missed the last space after her name.

eavc• 14 years ago

I wasn't planning on it, but I feel somewhat spoiled by your warning, actually. Maybe I shouldn't, but I can't help make certain assumptions when given a character's name and that there are major spoilers on the level you've described. : /

mseebach3• 14 years ago

Auto-complete is just a subset of search. Why is it more offensive to type "john smith" and get the suggestion "serial killer" than search "john smith" and have the first three results being about John Smith, the serial killer, and only getting to John Smith, the mountaineer and cat lover, in position four?

brk• 14 years ago

I think that one valid argument could be if people searching for this guy were commonly using a term like "John Smith Gym Teacher" they would likely never see the results for "John Smith Serial Playground Rapist". Or, at the very least the playground rapist results would be so far down the list that they would naturally be mostly disregarded. But, in this case the fact that "Playground Rapist" results are more common than the "Gym Teacher" results it could be argued that this skews the perception of John Smith in peoples minds.

jamesbritt• 14 years ago

Auto-complete is just a subset of search.

Is that true? Or are auto-complete suggestions merely additional terms that are part of popular search queries (but not necessarily search results)?

mdwrigh2• 14 years ago

It's a meta-search, in a sense. A search for search queries.

firefoxman1• 14 years ago

How about this one:

I want to search "why do blue whales migrate"

Part-way through my search I stop to think. Here's what is in the search box so far: "why do bl"

Try it out yourself. I bet some people get pretty angry about that.

gradstudent2• 14 years ago

I'll go against the popular consensus and argue that Google needs to turn this feature OFF by default. When ON, it's far too easy to assume the auto-complete represents the "right" search terms. IMO, it should be clearer that what it actually represents is similar searches other people have performed.

bryne• 14 years ago

I think the point is in the overwhelming majority of cases, other searches are the "right" searches.

LesZedCB4• 14 years ago

I agree. It's a nice feature. But then as far as features go, isn't it a meta-feature to be able to toggle them on or off?

gradstudent2• 14 years ago

My point is that auto-complete makes unwanted and unnecessary associations between terms. I have no problem with "Did you mean ... ?" suggestions appearing after I've searched for something; I simply disagree with Google "talking me into" search terms I didn't explicitly ask for.

laconian• 14 years ago

No way. Autocomplete is an absolute necessity for slow typists and mobile phone users.

Tichy2• 14 years ago

I am starting to regret that I gave my child only two first names. What would be a reasonable number for the future? Maybe 10, or even 100?

The idea being that you can switch your "official" name easily...

sp332• 14 years ago

Simple, just use your SSN as an identifier. That will secure your identity :)

Grimbaud• 14 years ago

A couple of points based on reading Japanese news reports: The reports are vague (at least to me) as to whether the injunction covers autocomplete itself or just the particular result. They say Google was ordered to stop the 表示 (hyouji, lit. 'display'), which I think could mean either, but seems more likely to mean the particular result (otherwise I suspect they would have said 'function'). In any case, it should be noted that all the reports seem to be based on a press conference by the plaintiff's lawyer, not on any court documents. Also, the English reports are reporting it as an injunction, but the Japanese sources have 仮処分 (kari-shobun, an interlocutory injunction), i.e. this is a temporary order and the case itself is probably still ongoing.

(I am not a native Japanese speaker, but professional J>E translator with legal translation experience)

snnssnns• 14 years ago

I have found one thing disturbing about autocomplete: Suppose I find a new "association" between 2 ideas, one of which is rare. I intend to follow the relationship up as a researcher or a programmer. Because of the rarity of the first topic, it is suggested to anyone who types in the first keyword - (s)he discovers the association for free, courtesy of my flash of inspiration and my carelessness to search it on google.

It is surprising in the history of mathematics how often the same results are proven simultaneously in several places - see for example, the HOMFLY polynomial. It is as though the "result was in the air". Now this is a concrete way of leaking such information so that if any one makes a connection, it "leaks" to others.

billpg• 14 years ago

Dear sir, I would like to apply for the position of squirrel hairdresser. Please note, I am not the Bill Godfrey recently convicted of lightbulb smuggling. That's someone else with the same name.

wdr1• 14 years ago

There is no good that can come of government regulation of search engines, regardless of which nation's government we're speaking.

AkThhhpppt5• 14 years ago

And if Google were at all willing to engage with users who have complaints, government wouldn't have to.

Google told to halt auto-complete

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