Latest Target In War On Drugs: Google Autocomplete

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Latest Target In War On Drugs: Google Autocomplete

Posted by timothy on Thursday June 20, 2013 @04:13AM from the wrong-folks-to-micromanage dept.

netbuzz writes "The National Association of Attorneys General met in Boston this week and one panel focused on the 'safe harbor' provision of 1996 Communications Decency Act. Within that broader discussion, Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood cited the autocomplete feature in Google search as evidence the company has more control over content than it contends. 'We know they manipulate the autocomplete feature,' Hood said, with his point being that there should be more such manipulation, not less. His primary example: a search on 'prescription drugs online' presents an autocomplete suggestion of 'prescription drugs online without a prescription.'"

22 of 154 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

google this by ciderbrew · 2013-06-20 04:18 · Score: 4, Funny

Attorneys are ... :)
1. Re:google this by icebike · 2013-06-20 05:45 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Attorneys are ... :)
  Welcome to the world of crowd sourced search trends, and self fulfilling prophesies.
  The truth is autocomplete isn't manipulated, its crowd sourced in real time. No conspiracy, no secret room full of minions trained to push an agenda. Just statistical weighting of what hundreds of thousands of people are searching for. If you don't like the results blame the users, because, in fact, that is exactly the source.
  Why is this so hard for politicians (and anyone else with an ax to grind) to understand. You read about people suing google all over the world for the same thing, (and mostly losing except in France).
  .
  
  --
  Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
Re:FUCK Your WAR. by Anonymous Coward · 2013-06-20 04:20 · Score: 5, Funny

...thus began this Anon's War on War
He's a moron by cellocgw · 2013-06-20 04:21 · Score: 5, Funny

And so is anyone who accepts the proffered autocomplete options without thinking about what he wants to search for.
On the other hand, here's an opportunity for GoogleClippy. "It looks like you're searching for illegal drugs online. How can I help you with that?"

--
https://app.box.com/WitthoftResume Code: https://github.com/cellocgw
1. Re:He's a moron by interkin3tic · 2013-06-20 04:34 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  At least it sounds like he's focusing on drug abuse that traditionally gets ignored.
  
  "Pot and crack? Yes, lock all of them up, those criminal scum.
  
  Oxycodone and hydrocodone? Hey man, sitting on your fat ass in a chair and blabbing about how liberals are destroying society all day is tough. Rush NEEDS those pain pills. That shouldn't be jail time!"
2. Re:He's a moron by Hatta · 2013-06-20 04:49 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Prohibition is bad policy. There's no "at least he's" when he's implementing bad policy. The right thing to do is advocate against bad policy. If he can't do that as AG, then he should quit. Keeping his job and implementing bad policy should earn him nothing but contempt.
  
  --
  Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
3. Re:He's a moron by interkin3tic · 2013-06-20 06:27 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  Perhaps the best way to get society to demand the war on drugs end is to prosecute the middle and upper class like we do the lower class. Lock up people who abuse prescription drugs, and lawyers who do coke, and throw away the key. The public is slowly admitting that maybe pot isn't that bad, but they don't feel strongly enough about it because no one they know is fucked over for victimless crimes.
The new front... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-06-20 04:22 · Score: 5, Funny

The new front in the war on drugs: minor inconvenience. Take that, drugs!
Danger! by Sponge+Bath · 2013-06-20 04:23 · Score: 5, Insightful

A government official is looking for a moral crusade to fill his time and justify his paycheck. Mississippi Jim, on patrol!
1. Re:Danger! by Trepidity · 2013-06-20 04:33 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Maybe he's angry about his own autocomplete results,
  
  Why is Jim Hood...
  Why is Jim Hood still in jail
  Why is Jim Hood a democrat
  Why is Jim Hood a republican
  
  --
  10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
Strange, if you type in "Douchebags" . . . by PolygamousRanchKid+ · 2013-06-20 04:24 · Score: 5, Funny

. . . it auto-completes with "The National Association of Attorneys General" . . .

--
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
but...that's...not how it works... by dAzED1 · 2013-06-20 04:24 · Score: 4, Informative

If a lot of people that started a search with "prescription drugs online" were searching for "prescription drugs online unicorns riding gorillas wearing purple napkin trampoline" then that is what autocomplete would suggest. Bloody hell, it's not like someone at Google is manually creating "suggestions" for people...
1. Re:but...that's...not how it works... by lightknight · 2013-06-20 05:28 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  But "think of the children" ! Oh, and obviously anyone using a search query like that is probably up to no good (probably looking for illicit drugs)...maybe Google should start profiling the people who search with these kinds of queries, and tip off law enforcement, so we can have a safer society and stuff. You know, just send a copy of that person's search history for the last month and GPS location to a nearby police station, and the police will have a look around the premises for anything incriminating. To help bootstrap the process, right? Because that's the society we live...one that's constantly looking for someone to thump, by any means.
  Oh, to live on a different plane of existence where stupidity like this does not exist.
  
  --
  I am John Hurt.
blame this guy by Valen1260 · 2013-06-20 04:27 · Score: 5, Funny

http://youtu.be/blB_X38YSxQ
Re:wasteful by gstoddart · 2013-06-20 04:28 · Score: 5, Insightful

Why try to stop people from searching for something they are searching for anyway?
Because they believe that Google should be at the front line of essentially censoring the internet to only return things they feel are 'acceptable'.
The government can't censor you (yet), but if they can strong-arm a company into doing it for them, it must be OK, right?

--
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Re:FUCK Your WAR. by interkin3tic · 2013-06-20 04:30 · Score: 5, Funny

Well, I was going to invite you to my annual "worldwide slashdotter tug of war" competition, but now I'm not sure I'll even host it again this year.
They should know by now by king+neckbeard · 2013-06-20 04:37 · Score: 5, Insightful

When you do something small and nice for a group of assholes, be it the government or the RIAA or whomever, then you set the expectation for that as the bare minimum across the board. There's no gratitude, they'll only say that you aren't doing enough. The second they started censoring autocomplete, it was an inevitability that crap like this would happen.

--
This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
Drugs will... by Darkness404 · 2013-06-20 04:37 · Score: 5, Insightful

Drugs will fuck up your life kid, so if we ever catch you using, buying and selling them we'll kidnap you and throw you in a cage and fuck up you and your family's lives.

Typical politics.

--
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
down the rabbit hole we go by nimbius · 2013-06-20 04:38 · Score: 5, Funny

other nefarious and dastardly plots these brave attorneys have uncovered:
1. an image search for 'boobies' using google image search can and will display, actual breasts.
2. Google translate can and will translate nearly a dozen highly offensive english words into any of more than 20 different languages.
3. a youtube search for 'collateral murder' will produce a video of american soldiers murdering journalists in iraq.
4. Google searches for the phrases "edward snowden" or "Julian Assange" provides shockingly inappropriate, unbiased information pertaining to united states foreign and domestic policy.
5. despite dire and repeated warnings by their trustworthy IT staff, google will in fact let you google the word 'google' without any safeguard for the catastrophic consequences that ensue.
6. despite providing readily available search results for filthy pill junkies, google search raises the ire of attorneys around the globe as it fails to provide a reliable and affordable source of high quality pure columbian cocaine for todays savvy litigators and high powered firms.

--
Good people go to bed earlier.
Strange, if you type in "I am"... by Iniamyen · 2013-06-20 04:55 · Score: 5, Funny

It auto-completes with "gullible"...
Autostop reading by paiute · 2013-06-20 04:56 · Score: 5, Insightful

I got as far as "Mississippi Attorney General" and stopped reading, because I knew what followed would simultaneously knock points off my IQ and make me weep for the lost potential of a once-sentient species.

--
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
Re:Yeah, he's an idiot. by icebike · 2013-06-20 06:03 · Score: 4, Insightful

Also, somebody teach this idiot how incredibly difficult it is to adjust data retrieval algorithms is*, especially on Google's scale.

Actually, the algorithms adjust themselves, in real time, all the time, based on trending searches.
That is why they are so successful. They are crowd sourced.
Everyone thinks they are so unique and individual and different from everybody else. They are totally shocked to find out they have exactly the same thought patterns as a large percentage of other people. I often see something on TV, reach for my tablet and google a couple words, only to have auto complete suggest almost exactly the next few words I was going to enter. 60 million other viewers saw the same thing, and decided to do the same search, and at least half are faster than I am. Its worked this way forever, and without it I'd still be clueless about who Amanda Witherspoon is.

--
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.