Google: Trolls and Love
January 24, 2019
Internet trolls are as old as the Internet. They are annoying, idiotic, and sad individuals. People are getting tired of Internet trolls. While it is best to ignore them, some trolls take things to the next level, so they need to be seriously dealt with. Google, Twitter, Facebook, and other technology companies are implementing AI to detect toxic comments and hate speech. Unfortunately these AI are simple to undermine. The Next Web shares that, “Google’s AI To Detect Toxic Comments Can Be Easily Fooled With ‘Love.’”
According to the article, Google’s perspective AI is easily fooled with typos, more spaces between words, and adding innocuous words to sentences. Google is trying to make the Internet a nicer place:
“The AI project, which was started in 2016 by a Google offshoot called Jigsaw, assigns a toxicity score to a piece of text. Google defines a toxic comment as a rude, disrespectful, or unreasonable comment that is likely to make you leave a discussion. The researchers suggest that even a slight change in the sentence can change the toxicity score dramatically. They saw that changing “You are great” to “You are [obscenity] great”, made the score jump from a totally safe 0.03 to a fairly toxic 0.82.”
The AI is using words with negative meanings to create a toxicity score. The AI’s design is probably very simple, where negative words are assigned a 1 and positive words have a 0. Human speech and emotion is more complicated than what an AI can detect, so sentiment analytics are needed. The only problem is that sentiment analytics are just as easily fooled as Google’s Jigsaw. How can Google improve this? Time, money, and more trial and error.
Whitney Grace, January 24, 2019
Google: More EU Pushback Coming?
January 21, 2019
I read “Google Is Expected to Get Hit With a Third Antitrust Penalty.” The point of contention is AdSense, the once helpful way for some online publishers to generate revenue. The AdWeek story provided zero context for the action nor did AdWeek explain why putting online ads on a Web page via AdSense was an alleged crime.
The original Bloomberg story stated:
Regulators were probing whether Google’s advertising contracts unfairly restricted rivals.
Bloomberg included one passage which I found interesting:
The EU said in 2016 that Google hindered competition for online ads with its AdSense for Search product which places advertising on websites, including retailers, telecommunications operators and newspapers. While its European market share is more than 80 percent, AdSense contributed less than 20 percent of Google’s total ad revenue in 2015, a percentage which has declined steadily since 2010.
Why did AdSense, possibly influenced by the Oingo technology, lose traction?
DarkCyber thinks that this is an interesting question.
Have Web site operators been affected as the AdSense program appears to have lost traction?
Perhaps more information will be forthcoming. Questions include:
- Did payout percentages of AdSense to Web participants decrease systematically?
- What were those payout percentages?
- Was the cost of the program a form a technical debt which contributed to the deplatforming of AdSense?
- Was AdSense inefficiency a way to push publishers to buy ads?
- What part did Google’s ad dispersion or inventory work down play in AdSense’s “decline”?
If another fine rolls in, Google will have won the trifecta for EU antitrust horse races it seems. One would hope that AdWeek would dig into these or similar questions.
Stephen E Arnold, January 21, 2019
Google Translate: A Facelift but Some Post-Op Needed
January 17, 2019
Google Translate is the go to app to figure out what people are saying in a foreign language. One of the best features is that Google Translate scans the text and can translate it, albeit a garbled version. Google Translate has gotten a makeover and Mobile Syrup spills the details: “Google Translate Web Site Gets Material Design Refresh And New Features.”
Google Translation’s face lift is part of the Material Design change. The basic design remains the same, but the text and document buttons are rounder. There are also two new blue buttons above the input box, labeled “text” and “documents.” Text is to translate the current page, while documents translated uploaded files. There is a new “History,” “Saved,” and “Community” buttons. History contains a list of previous translations, while saved opens your own custom phrasebook of saved translations. Community is for language lovers, where they can verify and view other users’ translations. However, if you have to speak two-five languages to participate.
The newest change is:
“Perhaps one of the most significant changes is a new responsive design. Adjusting the size of the window will dynamically adjust Translate’s layout. For example, if you use a smaller window, Translate will take on a more ‘mobile friendly’ layout with a vertical-oriented system. When you expand your window out, it’ll adjust back to a horizontal layout.”
The changes to Google Translate are slight, but the app could use some enhancements when handling popular words; for example, “jajillas.”
Whitney Grace, January 17, 2018
Google and the Revolt of the Science Club Within
January 15, 2019
I know I said I would cover more DarkCyber topics, but I read a remarkable article called:
With a headline like this one, let’s look at a couple of the statements set forth in the write up as factualities:
The [Instagram and Twitter] campaign is another example of the growing movement of tech employees publicly critiquing industry-wide practices they say are leading to inequality in the workplace. The tech industry has for years seen abysmal diversity statistics related to employment of female and underrepresented minorities in its workforce. Supporters of the campaign say that ending forced arbitration is a key step to creating a fairer workplace culture that will help curb such disparity.
The point to note is that Google which has largely failed at social media has employees who use the services the online ad giant was unable to understand, me-to, and make successful. Interesting. A disconnect signal perhaps?
Another statement from the write up:
As part of the effort, the group organizing the campaign researched the contracts of around 30 major tech companies and 10 of the biggest suppliers of contract employees for major tech companies. Not a single tech company met their basic criteria for protecting employees’ rights to pursue legal action against their companies for workplace issues, the group said.
Hmm. The “30 major tech companies” include outfits like Boeing, Raytheon, IBM, and similar giants? I don’t know. My hypothesis is that the “major” are outfits which are in the San Francisco-San Mateo area.
What is clear, however, is that giant companies which have acted as if they were countries now have governance problems to go along with their management challenges.
I have termed the broad approach to managing Yahoo-type outfits (I use Yahoo as an archetype, not a functional company) the HSSCMM or high school science club management method. The approach operates in ways that can be baffling to those not in the science club; for example, the junior prom is stupid. Only dorks go. The notion is that by exclusion one becomes more exceptional.
Now we have a terrarium in which to watch a science club go to war with its very bright, very elite, and very sciencey members.
Exciting? Nah. Interesting? Maybe. Financially significant? Oh, yes.
Stephen E Arnold, January 15, 2019
Amazon Fear: A New Marketing Hook for Google and the Softies
January 14, 2019
With the Amazon AWS bulldozer grinding away, some animals are fleeing the crushing power of the machine. Others are adopting a different tactic. “At NRF 2019, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform Court Retailers Wary of Amazon” explains that their services offer a quiet place in the jungle.
The write up explains:
Retail is one of the few industries where AWS isn’t likely to have a huge lead. That reality means Google and Microsoft can pitch their AI and cloud wares to a receptive audience.
Will Google and Microsoft adopt the IBM FUD approach? Will retailers who want to sell to the federal government become more flexible when Amazon’s GovCloud becomes more dense?
DarkCyber anticipates changes which will pose considerable hurdles to Google and Microsoft as places to sell and relax in the Amazon rain forest.
Stephen E Arnold, January 14, 2019
Rewarding Questionable Behavior: The Google Method
January 11, 2019
I read the Bloomberg write up “Google Board Sued for Hushing Claims of Executive Misconduct.” I do recall that Bloomberg created a stir with its really factual write up about mystery components, but this is about humans and their propensity to behave in interesting ways. I assume, therefore, that most of the information is sort of accurate.
The write up informs me amidst green ads and yellow banners of semi information unrelated to the actual news item that:
Alphabet Inc.’s directors were sued by shareholders for approving a $90 million exit payment to Andy Rubin, the creator of the Android mobile software, while helping cover up his alleged misconduct and similar misbehavior by other executives. The investors claimed the board failed in its duties by allowing harassment to occur, approving big payouts and keeping the details private.
Let’s assume that the assertion, the behavior, and the litigation are factualities.
On the surface, it is possible to formulate these hypotheses:
- What happens in the high school science club environment stays in the science club until it doesn’t
- The high school science club approach to handling “issues” is to make life pretty good for well liked science club members. (One assumes that birds of a feather flock together may want the flock and the errant bird to thrive.)
- The high school science club method can be misunderstood by the lowly beings who purchase shares in an enterprise. Litigation is sour grapes.
From my vantage point in the anti Silicon Valley in Harrod’s Creek, Kentucky, it sure looks like some hanky panky has been practiced.
Revenue growth? Whatever it takes I assume. If Amanda Rosenberg lived in the muddy hollow, I would ask her. I wonder if the real news outfit Bloomberg might consider such an interview a way to collect useful information?
Stephen E Arnold, January 11, 2019
CEO Pichai Asserts Google is Transparent on User Data
January 11, 2019
When I think of Android, I do not automatically think “transparent”. Maybe you do? Great.
You read every word of every user agreement, right? Apparently, that’s what Sundar Pichai, Google’s CEO, thinks. TechCrunch reports, “Google’s CEO Thinks Android Users Know How Much Their Phones Are Tracking Them.” When brought before the House Judiciary committee on matters of transparency and accountability, Pichai stated, “For Google services, you have a choice of what information is collected, and we make it transparent.” However, writes reporter Sarah Parez:
“The reality is that most people don’t read user agreements in full, and aren’t fully aware of what data their phones and apps are able to access. Even on Apple’s platform, known to be fairly privacy-forward, apps have been collecting user data — including location — and selling it to third parties, as noted by a recent New York Times investigation. Google’s defense on the data collection front is similar to Facebook’s — that is, Pichai responded that Google provides tools that put users in control. But do they actually use them? … The 160 million users [who had navigated to ‘My Account settings’ in the previous month] sounds like a large number, but at Google’s scale, where numerous products have over a billion users apiece, it’s not as big as it seems. In addition, it has become clear that simply opting out of Google’s data collection methods is not always enough. For example, earlier this year, it was discovered that Google was continuing to track users’ location even when users had explicitly turned the Location History setting off — a clear indication they did not want their data collected or shared.”
Indeed. When pressed, Pichai admitted Google’s UI could be simplified to make it easier to find these settings, and pledged the company is working on it. But we wonder—is Google being completely transparent about its stance on transparency?
Cynthia Murrell, January 11, 2019
Google and Its Software Engineering
January 7, 2019
Do you want to know how Google makes the Silicon Valley stew? Navigate to “Software Engineering at Google” and stick in your spoon. This technical paper will help some understand that when Google engineers “relaxing” of relevance algorithms or implements special user tracking features in Google Maps, the inclusions are not accidents. This may be useful information when someone considers a “surprising” behavior of a Google system. When I hear, “wow, that’s a surprise,” I will be a bit skeptical.
Stephen E Arnold, January 7, 2019
Google: Is Unionization an Possibility?
January 3, 2019
While some companies are being called out for sexual misconduct, Google is being called out for an ethics violation along with sexual harassment. The Verge reports on how Google is breaking its ethical code of conduct in the article, “A Looming Strike Over Project Dragonfly Is Putting New Pressure On Google.” Project Dragonfly is Google’s attempt at launching search in China. The problem, however, is that China operates behind the Great Firewall and censors all Internet content.
Google workers or Googlers are against their projects being thrown under China’s governmental thumb, thus forced to censor search results. This is not the first time Googlers were unhappy with their company. In November 2018, Googlers staged a walkout in retaliation for Google ignoring sexual harassment claims. The walkout was successful and forced Google to react. If Google refuses to change its business tactics on Project Dragonfly, Googlers might do more than stage a walkout. They will have an old-fashioned strike and are already collecting funds to help strikers pay for daily expenses.
“What would trigger a strike? [Liz] Fong-Jones suggested that Google would have to cross a red line — launching Dragonfly in China without a proper review of Dragonfly’s privacy implications, for example. “I firmly suggest that my current fellow colleagues think about what they’d do if the red line were crossed and an executive overrode a S&P launch bit, or members of the S&P team indicated that they were coerced into marking it green,” Fong-Jones wrote, referring to the company’s security and privacy teams. How far away are we from that red line? …reports that at one point, the Dragonfly team was told to prepare to launch between January and April of next year. Given the current controversy — and the ongoing US trade war with China — that timeline almost certainly has been pushed back.”
Googlers have way more power than factory workers striking against their manufacturing plant shutting down. They are smart, know how to use social media to their advantage, and could cripple Google in more ways than one. It is nice to see Silicon Valley standing up for ethical practices, but how long will they last?
Whitney Grace, January 3, 2019
Google Hangouts: Dead or Alive?
December 27, 2018
First came the announcement that Google Hangouts was on its way out. Then came data loss and an earlier than planned shut down.
But the Beyond Search goose is confused. Is Google Hangouts a winner or an “also participated” ribbon winner? Though we know it lags behind Zoom.us, a similar service, the IBTimes reports, “Google Has No Plans to Retire Messaging Platform Hangouts, Says G Suite Product Lead.” Reporter Rohit RVN writes:
“There were rumors on the internet last week that Google had decided to shut the Hangouts messaging platform in 2020. Many opined that the search engine giant, which failed to take on Facebook and Twitter with Google+ social media platform, has now given up on challenging more popular messenger applications WhatsApp and Telegram, among others. However, Scott Johnston, a product lead in G Suite at Google (Hangouts Meet & Chat, Google Voice), has rubbished the reports about the company planning to close Hangouts. Johnston took to Twitter and claimed that Google has no immediate or long-term plans to retire Hangouts.”
So, they say it’s more of a transition than a shuttering. Johnson also emphasized that the Google plans to help existing users of the “Classic” Hangouts make a smooth transition to its G Suite counterparts. The write-up goes on to mention that Google has recently begun beta testing Duplex, an AI feature, on Pixel phones in certain pilot cities. We’re told the tool can perform advanced functions, like making dinner reservations.
Useful for many. But the Beyond Search goslings are okay just pecking around the murky pond. Low tech, but the method works.
Cynthia Murrell, December 27, 2018
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
