NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Google, Bing, and "Darth Toolbar"
Google, Bing, and "Darth Toolbar"
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000809.html
Greetings. Recently, in "My Take on 'Google Accuses Bing of
"Stealing" Google Search Results'" ( http://bit.ly/e3cqWE [Lauren's Blog] ),
I suggested that the root of this escalated arguing between
Google and Microsoft fundamentally relates to the broadening scope of
data collected by common "toolbars" -- that are either pre-installed
on various systems, or that are installed by users (sometimes
voluntarily, sometimes inadvertently as part of other software
installations).
Toolbars can be extremely valuable tools for users, but in some key
ways various commonly used toolbars have become a case study of
"mission creep" -- and along the way have crawled further and further
towards the dark side.
Early search engine toolbars were generally focused on enhancing the
direct interactions between users and the search service that provided
the specific toolbar in question. But over time, toolbar capabilities
have in some cases expanded to include collecting data on users'
interactions with *other* sites, both in terms of which sites
users visit, and sometimes even the input that users may enter on
those other sites.
It can be argued -- and it is true -- that such data (for example, Web
browsing history) could be employed by any given search engine to
enhance the user experience in various ways. But it's also true that
these sorts of data can be extremely valuable signals for an array of
competitive purposes.
Now to be clear, not all toolbars engage in these practices, nor
default to the same level of information gathering. Legitimate search
toolbars are typically very careful to provide user controls over
these functions, installation and usage disclosures, and so on. Nor
do all search engines use the data collected from toolbars in the same
ways. Similar signals used by one firm as major input to their search
results algorithms may have less or no significance on search results
generated by another service.
In practice, of course, most people don't read the disclosures and
might not understand the full significance of what was being disclosed
even if they did bother to read them. And most users will tend to
stick with default settings.
It was the shift toward toolbars collecting data on user behaviors
beyond the confines of their interactions with the associated specific
toolbar providers that has led to the current Google vs. Bing
accusations.
Search terms being entered by users on Google were (and apparently
are) reportedly being collected and distributed to Bing by
Microsoft-provided toolbar mechanisms in certain configurations.
Microsoft asserts that participation in this is completely voluntary
and disclosed to users -- and technically that appears to be true.
But let's face it. Users are pushed pretty hard to accept toolbar
installations along with other packages, and as I mentioned above most
people aren't particularly interested in plowing through the
disclosures and option settings. So it's likely that many Bing users
were unaware in practice that their Google usage data was being
uploaded to Microsoft.
In a way, this is sort of similar to what would happen if you
automatically created a list of your Google (or Bing, or whatever)
searches every day, and posted it to a public Web page, where it could
be discovered and indexed by any search engines that happened along.
Those search engines would likely use any unusual or otherwise unknown
terms in those searches for additional page and link discovery, which
then could (depending on the specific algorithms in use) find their
way into those services' main search databases, where other users
could find them. As you can see, the end result is quite similar to
what's reportedly occurred in the current Google/Bing controversy,
though enabled by toolbar activities in that case, not by public
posting of searches.
So where does this all leave us as relates to the current saga?
I don't quote biblical text very often (to say the least!) but Matthew
26:51-52 seems somewhat appropriate in this case, "Put your sword in
its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword."
Personally, I don't like what Microsoft is doing by collecting Google
search inputs and using them as signal data to Bing search results
algorithms. It strikes me as underhanded and unethical, and I doubt
very much that most users are cognizant that it is occurring. I'll
bet that at least some users would definitely be uncomfortable with
such activities. I'd like to see such behavior by Bing stopped.
But ultimately, the entire search industry has been extending the
bounds of toolbar data collection for years now, and it was probably
inevitable that one or more players would push the envelope into the
rather nasty area where Bing now resides in this respect. It has been
tolerance of this gradual creeping toward the dark side of data
collection by toolbars that set the stage for where we are now, and
there's blame to go around for all of us on that score.
Toolbars can be extraordinary useful, or they can be abused. Or both.
Like any tool, they can be abused, and even when such abuse may not
actually be illegal, it can still be ethically bankrupt.
Microsoft should stop "poaching" Google search queries from users, on
ethical grounds if nothing else.
But more broadly, we all should be giving some deep thought to our
roles in allowing some toolbars generally to evolve toward becoming
the hungry data Morlocks of Web technology, rather than evolving as
the strictly useful tools -- with clear and reasonable demarcations of
data collection and use -- that most of them started out to be in the
first place.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein (lauren@vortex.com): http://www.vortex.com/lauren
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org
Founder:
- Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org
- Global Coalition for Transparent Internet Performance: http://www.gctip.org
- PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com
Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
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Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com