Are personalised results bad?
It's easy to have a one-sided view of
content filters, and entire books have been written on the subject: Eli
Pariser's The Filter Bubble, for one. Pariser warns that "algorithmic
gatekeepers" can leave us isolated in a "web of one” if they mean the
internet no longer connects us together, introduces us to new ideas, new people
and different perspectives (see tinyurl.com/4xkj8hm).
It's true that filtering mechanisms can
mean you see more and more of the same type of content - a kind of
ever-decreasing circle that reinforces your views and limits your ability to
discover new websites (which might challenge your prejudices) because they’ve
been excluded from your results.
The
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However, it’s important to remember that
these algorithms take your lead. They're not actively censoring content, but
merely using data held on the links you do and don't click to predict what
you'll want to see next time. You could argue that your level of exposure isn’t
any more limited, because you wouldn't have clicked on certain news stories
even if they were shown in a set of search results. Filters simply mimic your
online behaviour.
Filtering content can be a big time-saver -
an undeniable benefit in today’s hectic world. Finding the information you need
faster is a good thing, and Google’s localised results help to ensure UK users,
for example, aren't bombarded with an irrelevant list of restaurants in
Birmingham, Connecticut when they search for 'restaurants in Birmingham'.
Being able to see at a glance what the
people you care about are saying on Facebook, without having to scroll through
the content from your 650 'friends', makes things considerably easier, too.
It’s possible to disable filtering (more on this later), but a better step
might be to browse through your friends list every so often to ensure you
haven't accidentally forgotten anyone.
If everyone saw the same search results
worldwide, we’d be in a similar situation to the one where TV and newspaper
editors decide what we see. Google would decide what's relevant to everyone.
Would you rather be reading a personalised version of PC Advisor that included
only the topics for which you had previously expressed a preference, or have
the version you now hold in your hands where we decide what content to include?
There are pros and cons for both approaches.
Without filtered data on the web, some
argue that we would be overloaded with irrelevant information and unable to
locate what's important. On the flip side, as Pariser points out, important and
relevant shouldn’t be the only factors considered by these algorithms. They
shouldn't, for example, block content that might make you uncomfortable or
challenge your point of view.
Our main concern is that companies such as
Twitter, Facebook and Google should make it more obvious to users that content
filtering is taking place, and enable them to opt out of personalised search
results if they so wish.
What you can do
It’s not possible to entirely escape
content filters, but there are some steps you can take.
Google: It's
easy for Chrome users to get non-personalised search results. Click the Spanner
icon and choose Settings. Click 'Manage search engines...' and scroll down to
the bottom of the list.
Enter 'Google UK non-personalised’ in the
'Add a new search engine’ field, and 'Google UKNP’ as the keyword. Finally, enter
'http://www.google.co.uk/search?pws=0&gl=uk&q=%s' in the last field.
This tells Chrome not to provide search results specific to you, but that you
do want to see UK results. Click Make default and your next Google search will
return a 'standard' set of results.
It's
easy for Chrome users to get non-personalised search results
Google recently introduced 'Search plus
your world', which increases the level of personalisation applied to your
search results when you’re signed into a Google+ account by adding in items
from the social network. Click the globe icon at the top-right of the browser
window to hide personal results.
If this sounds like too much hassle,
consider using a different search engine, such as duckduckgo.com. This doesn’t
filter results, but you can set the region to UK via the More button to the
right of the search bar (it defaults to US).
Facebook:
This social network regularly changes its interface and options, but at press
time there were a few things you could do to view a slightly less filtered News
Feed. At the top is a Sort link; click this to toggle between Top stories and
Most Recent.
This takes you only so far, though. A
drop-down menu at the top-right of each post allows you to choose whether you
see All updates, Most updates or 'Only important posts' from that person. You
can also click on a person's name to go to their Timeline, then hover over the
Friends button to add them to a list: Close friends, Acquaintances or other.
Click Settings... in this same menu to choose j what type of updates are
displayed.
If you really want to see posts from all
your friends, hover your cursor over Friends in the left panel of the Home page
and click More. Click Create list and enter a name, such as Everyone. Add each
of your friends and click Create. It may take a while if you have hundreds of
friends, but clicking on this list _ will then reveal posts from everyone.
Other changes to make in Facebook include
ensuring that your privacy settings (click the down arrow at the top-right
corner of the website) are correctly set. One recent change, for example, is
that friends of anyone tagged in your posts can see that post. To disable this,
choose Custom, then untick the box marked 'Friends of those tagged’. You can
also limit who can see past posts.
In your profile, and in other online
profiles, it's worth removing your birthday - or at least the year you were
born. This information enables tracking companies to more easily identify you
from others with the same name.
Avoid Tracking: If you don't want to be tracked, start by enabling your browser's
private mode. With Internet Explorer 8.0 or later, you can enable InPrivate
browsing by pressing Ctrl, Shift, P. The same shortcut works in Mozilla
Firefox, too.
Mozilla
Firefox
Google Chrome users can click the Spanner
icon and choose New incognito window (or press Ctrl, Shift, N). When you browse
in an incognito window, pages won't be added to your web or search history. No
cookies will be saved and pages won't leave behind any traces, other than the bookmarks
you save and files you download.
Bear in mind that if you sign into your
Google account from an incognito page, your web searches will still be saved in
your Google Web History. To stop this happening, go to google.com/history and
click 'Turn Web History off.
Unfortunately, no browser's private mode is
sufficient to stop companies tracking and seeing what you’re looking at online.
Factors such as your screen resolution, browser plug-ins and the version of
Windows you’re running are fingerprints left behind.
To prevent this, switch to a 'standard'
browser such as Firefox, or use a smartphone browser. Disabling JavaScript is a
powerful tool in preventing tracking, but it’s needed to make most websites
work properly.
Another option is to use the Tor Browser
from torproject.org. This is a free Virtual Private Network (VPN) utility that
anonymises your online activity, preventing websites from identifying your
location. Tor is available for Windows and Android devices, while a Tor browser
bundle can be run from a USB flash drive in Windows, Mac and Linux.
Cookies are a hot topic at the moment, with
a new EU law (the e-privacy directive) that came into force in May. Now, users
must be made aware that a website uses cookies, and must accept them to
continue using the site. Cookies can be useful, allowing websites to remember
your preferences. However, they can also be used to track you, and it's worth
occasionally clearing out your cookie cache.
In Chrome, click the Spanner icon, then
Settings, 'Show advanced settings...'. Click Content Settings... in the Privacy
section to find the cookie settings. Finally, click 'All cookies and site
data...', Remove all.
Firefox users should click the orange
Firefox button, then Options, and choose the Privacy tab. Enable the option to
'Tell web sites I do not want to be tracked' and click 'clear your recent
history'.
In Internet Explorer 9.0, click the cog
icon, then choose 'Safety and Delete Browsing History'. You can choose what to
delete, and remove only cookies if you so wish.
Next Issue:
Online privacy has become an increasing concern in recent years. From the way
companies such as Facebook and Google use our data to the government that wants
to closely monitor our online communication, our privacy is under threat. In the
next issue, we'll find out how your status updates are being used to make
money, and your online activities are being spied on to deliver targeted
adverts, and explain what you can do about it.
