THE WASHINGTON POST — Google’s motto is “Don’t be evil.” But what would it mean for democracy if it was?
That’s the question psychologist Robert Epstein has been asking in a series of experimentstesting the impact of a fictitious search engine — he called it “Kadoodle” — that manipulated search rankings, giving an edge to a favored political candidate by pushing up flattering links and pushing down unflattering ones.
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Not only could Kadoodle sway the outcome of close elections, he says, it could do so in a way most voters would never notice.
Epstein, who had a public spat with Google last year, offers no evidence of actual evil acts by the company. Yet his exploration of Kadoodle — think of it as the equivalent of Evil Spock, complete with goatee — not only illuminates how search engines shape individual choices but asks whether the government should have a role in keeping this power in check.
Read more at The Washington Post.
