[ExI] phony google

[spike]

>. On Behalf Of Dave Sill
Subject: Re: [ExI] phony google

 

On Wed, Aug 7, 2013 at 2:30 PM, Mike Dougherty <msd001 at gmail.com> wrote:

 

>>."Avoid Windows" feels to me like advice of the kind "wear a tinfoil
hat" or "leave the TV on when you're not home."

 

>.No, not "tinfoil hat" advice, but based on common sense. you'll need to
remain vigilant and cautious with whichever platform you choose.-Dave

 

Hmmm, ja, but diligence, vigilant and caution are all irrelevant if I have
no tools to detect something like a phony Google.  

If this occurs to me, then Google would surely have been on this exact
question back before the dawn of time.  A few days ago, I downloaded a free
app and somehow allowed Delta Search to embed itself in my operating system.
It brutally replaced Google in every preference setting and stayed there
even after I did a search and delete on every file known to be associated in
any way with Delta.  My virus checker was helpless in its grip, my cookie
cutters, my ad alert software, nothing could cure it.  I went online and was
astonished to see actual debate among internet hipsters about how to get rid
of Delta Search.  Now THAT is one hell of a software infection.  Delta
Search is the AIDS of computer viruses.

Had Delta Search called itself Google instead, I would never know it was
there, would not go to the trouble of struggling for hours to get rid of it.
With that technology, any company could make actual money by subtly
inserting ads, hijacking this or that, redirecting, even filtering search
results by political or religious flavor.  That would be worth a FORTUNE!  A
company could use whatever Delta Search is doing, then redirect the
stampeding herd over the cliff of its choosing.  All of us unsuspecting
senior citizens  (WAIT, rather I meant of course THOSE OTHER senior
citizens, not including me at all) would have not a clue.

Could you imagine the value of something like being able to filter out news
stories slanted to the right or to the left?  They could even take existing
news stories, modify them slightly to change the political slant of an
article, then pass it along as the original.  That is POWER!  

There would be plenty of the younger market who are too distracted trying to
learn the latest on Justin Beeber to have any clue that some greedy
(NTTAWWT) capitalist owns everything they search on, controls everything
they see, filters every internet action for fun and profit.

All that vigilance is useless if we don't know what to look for or how to
fix it once we get suspicious.

Anyone know if Google has a way to detect if there is an evil third party
intervening?  Could they rig some kind of authenticity code somehow, so that
if there is a few hundred millisecond delay caused by an intermediate party
doing something between themselves and an internet user, they could catch
the bastards?  Who do we ask at Google?

spike

 

 

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