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Google Patent for User Targeted Search Results

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the in-the-crosshairs dept.

lorenbake writes "Scoble is one of many to report that Google has filed a patent for user targeted, or attention targeted, search results which will change the ranking of Google's organic results per each individual user based upon that user's search behavior, location, sites visited, and even 'typing behavior'. How could Google build such user profiles to serve customized organic (non-paid) results to? Tracking via their network of desktop apps, advertising, Gmail, and other network services."

26 of 168 comments (clear)

  1. Do No Evil by Soporific · · Score: 5, Funny

    Do no evil. Unless you have shareholders?

    ~S

    1. Re:Do No Evil by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      "How could Google build such user profiles to serve customized organic (non-paid) results to? " They already have the information. Google imbeds a cryptographically signed globally unique identifier on every computer that uses its search (it's set to expire in a few decades, so the only way to get rid of it is by deleting cookies. If you have the toolbar, you're probably out of luck). After recording what you search for with your unique ID, Google uses a number of methods to determine what link you clicked on, seemingly based on the age of your ID and your browser (the way Google gets my clicks for instance is with javascript that loads a spammer style "image" just as the new page is loaded. The image is nothing, but the "url" sent to Google for it contains all the information about who you are and where you are going). This is why so many of Google's services remain in infinite beta - the services aren't the main point, it's the personal information Google can gather about you that they want. Advertisers pay top dollar for targeted advertisements - a list of 1 million email addresses is worth about the same as 100 email addresses with a small number of statistics. Google offers companies the ability to spam people with an extremely large amount of personal information to go on.

  2. Evil, Google. Google, Evil. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm sure you two will get along.

    The main reason any big company patents anything is so they can violate the patents of other companies.

    "What's that, Microsoft? We're violating your patent #314159265? Well you're violating our patent number #299792458. Lets call it even, shall we?"

  3. Help me Slashdot!!! by Psionicist · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's about (= 'Google 'good), but also about (= 'patents 'evil), what to do, what to THINK!!!

  4. Just my 2 cents... by Froze · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Before this goes all big brother...
    I just want to say that I hove no problem with targeted advertising at all. If there is a way that does not impose on my personal freedoms to selectiviely show me things that I might be interested in purchasing it is not only ok but much preffered to the massive spamvertisement campaigns that go on now.

    --
    -- The morphemes of your disquisition are ascertainable, but they have eschewed an ambit of transpicuous exposition.
    1. Re:Just my 2 cents... by cgenman · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I have to say, I'm with you on this one, in theory. I really hate the irrelevancies of modern advertising. I would rather be shown a flood of ads for things I might be interested in (and preferably might not know about) in place of the flood of ads for "punch the monkey and win a years supply of Vioxx." Plus if the ads are twice as valuable to the advertiser, they can use half as many (yeah, right).

      That having been said, it is the database about me which is a bit creepy. But, as huge databases about me already exist I can't complain too much. I've always said that if we had perfect transparency, everyone's "freakish oddities" would seem normal.

      --
      The ______ Agenda
  5. All I want.. by lightyear4 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    All I want...is the ability to easily opt out.

  6. Disposable personalities by zecg · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Don't allow cookies accross sessions, dispose of your personalities and change your gmail accounts regularly, use only GPG 4096-byte encrypted text in your gmail account, put on your tinfoil hat when thinking anything at all and - you'll still be within the System, tracked and numbered.

    --
    .i lu doi ringos.star. xu do puku'aroroi dunli dopecaku leni virnu li'u
  7. This is awesome! by LaughingCoder · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Those guys at $oogle are making Microsoft look like amateurs when it comes to world domination!

    --
    The more you regulate a company, the worse its products become.
  8. All the world's information by Ifni · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ... includes yours.

    --

    Oh, was that my outside voice?

  9. Fine by me by Turn-X+Alphonse · · Score: 4, Insightful

    My Gmail account is my "send everything here" account. It gets spam from every where from tin foil hat sites to live journal. If you can find a way to work out what I like from "Person X has replied to your comment with 'lol, I agree' " then that's fine by me.

    --
    I like muppets.
    1. Re:Fine by me by aoe2bug · · Score: 5, Funny

      lol, i agree

      --
      -Dan
  10. Cradle-to-Grave Ad Tracking by K-Man · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Let's face it, the only economic reason for a company to build and host a bunch of unrelated applications is to link together advertising and user profiles. Why else would a search engine be talking about providing free WiFi service? So they can track users' locations and deliver location-targeted ads.

    --
    ---- "If we have to go on with these damned quantum jumps, then I'm sorry that I ever got involved" - Erwin Schrodinger
  11. Welcome to the future by Colin+Smith · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Where computers and systems know what you want and then give it to you. Good? Evil? Well that all depends on intent doesn't it.

    --
    Deleted
  12. It's already being done by Slashdoc+Beta · · Score: 5, Informative

    On some seaches you perform you see a "personalized results (BETA)" message. I didn't really have a chance to determine whether the results are better, other than that it ranks the sites you visited before higher.

  13. What were you expecting? by whayworth · · Score: 3, Informative

    All the clues were there: context-sensitive ads in GMail was just an obvious one. If you sign up for an account with Google, you agree to their licensing terms; you do the same when instsalling an operating system from a corporation who shall not be named. If you don't like the idea that Google has access to your email, realize that any other provider has the same privileges; it's just that Google, intelligently (but not necessarily morally defensible), chose to take advantage of them. If you didn't use Google, it would be your ISP or another email provider (unless you have your own server).

    TANSTAAFL.

  14. Get ready to watch ... by ngunton · · Score: 4, Funny

    ... as all the Google fanboys do mental summersaults to twist reality to fit the conflicting notions that Google can do nothing wrong, and yet web patents are so very, very wrong...

    I can see it now, future headline:

    Google CEO Revealed as Beelzebub Prince of Darkness, Mountain View New 7th Circle of Hell

    Slashdot comments:

    "Well, you know, Satan *is* very misunderstood"

    "Gmail still rocks! I don't care if the Google minions sacrifice a kitten every time I check my mail, as long as I have my 100 TB of storage! Whoohoo!"

    "I just sold my eternal soul for more relevant search results - but hey, I got a great price on this DVD player! Thanks Asmodeus!"

    "My monitor smokes a bit when I do searches now, but hey - I can find out what all my friends have been *really* thinking about me! Hey, this new GoogleBrainCrawler kicks butt! Go Google! But ... make the voices stop, please?"

    "Yahoo! made a deal with the ancient Nordic Gods but they're just playing catch up at this point"

    "Jeez guys, if it was Microsoft making a deal with Belial then we'd be all over it but just because it's Google, you're all ... erk ... ack ... (transmission terminated)"

  15. it's all good by intmainvoid · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Makes perfect sense for google to track which links i click on - essentially i'm filtering out the type results I don't want, so if the search algorithm can learn from that and produce more relevant results, then great!

    Privacy isn't such an issue on this considering Google already has this information on a per user level - this probably doesn't raise any additional privacy concerns.

    --
    Drag n' Drop DVD Recommendations
  16. Re:Filing a patent is EVIL by ergo98 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Since filing a patent is evil, Google has violated its "do no evil" policy.

    Queue someone claiming that it's a defensive patent, and Google is just using the system to defend themselves. Of course that sort of claim is pure nonsense.

    Anyways, it's hardly new - Google has been using the patent system since they first hit the scene with PageRank.

  17. They probably have to do this by max+born · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Google is not necessarily evil for doing taking out a patent. We live in a world of IP and patents. They probably have to do this for protection.

    However, if Google starts using this patent to thwart their competition then they'll be making a mockery of their own do-no-evil slogan.

  18. Google and Privacy by pdjohe · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Google is getting worse and worse with privacy. From a geek point of view, they got a bunch of cool apps, but from a humanist point of view, I feel google is definately turning over to the dark side.

    In a couple of years, we will probably be discussing Google and privacy concerns just like we discuss Microsoft and security concerns now.

  19. Re:Temptation risk VERY high by General+Alcazar · · Score: 3, Insightful
    That is a nice sentiment, but if you are going to make such a bylaw, you would have to define "evil".

    Unfortunately, in the real world, things are not so black and white.

  20. Re:Temptation risk VERY high by fyoder · · Score: 3, Informative
    AFAIK, "Do No Evil" is an informal slogan around Google. Google would go a long way to alleviating concern if they added that to their corporate mission statement and bylaws.

    It is a part of the 'owner's manual' included with their SEC filing.

    Co-founders release Google 'owner's manual'

    Perhaps not so much 'buyer beware' as 'buyer be advised'. Investors know up front what the company is about and Google is not obligated to aggressively pursue short term profits by whatever means for its share holders. It has explicitly told them it will not do that.

    --
    Loose lips lose spit.
  21. Grant your trust for the right reasons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    These are actions Google has actually taken:

    Helped Chinese authorities to censor their subjects' Internet access.
    (http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/News/Details.aspx ?NewsId=14130)

    Selectively approved and refused ads, based on political content.
    (http://www.unknownnews.net/google.html)
    (http://www.thenation.com/doc/20040830/reilly)

    Permanently collected search history for everyone who has ever used their site.
    (http://www.google.com/intl/en/privacypolicy.html)
    (http://www.techweb.com/wire/ebiz/161500535)

    Permanently collected/indexed the email history and content of all gmail users, for marketing and law-enforcement use.
    (http://mail.google.com/mail/help/privacy.html)

    Filed obvious software patents.
    (Refer to this slashdot story.)

    For me, when people's actions directly contradict their words, I reduce my trust in them accordingly. Google can keep claiming to "do no evil," but the words are becoming more and more empty.

    "How is it evil? It could be evil because its very powerful but in the right hands.. it could be good for everyone."

    There's a simple way to tell if someone is likely to abuse power. When someone collects power over you, and states that it's for a purpose which doesn't require that power, you are being misled.

  22. So that's why... by mikael · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This has been driving me nuts for some time now.

    Often, when trying to find some information at work, I'll try a Google search, and
    make a note of the search terms in order to continue working at home. Then when I go
    home and type in the same set of keywords, I'll get a completely different set of
    search results, with the articles I was reading now missing.

    --
    Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
  23. Teaching someone to search? by kinbote · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This may be a disaster for Person X trying to communicate to Person Y how to search for a particular topic. The terms that yield good results for X may receive hidden help from X's personal context, which is totally murky and can't be readily communicated to Y, let alone typed in the search box...

    As a simplified example, consider how the agriculture professor and a freshman student may end up with wildly divergent search results for "Onion"...