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July 30, 2018: Dr. Robert Epstein: watching Google manipulate the world

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This week: Dr. Robert Epstein, on how Google manipulates the world. Dr. Epstein is the author of 15 books and over 250 articles, a PhD from Harvard (B.F. Skinner's final doctoral student, in fact), and the former editor-in-chief of Psychology Today.

More info about Dr. Epstein's work:

• @DrREpstein, Dr. Epstein's Twitter feed

• AIBRT (American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology), where he's Senior Research Psychologist

• DrRobertEpstein.com, his homepage

• Taming Big Tech: The Case for Monitoring: How, working in the shadows of the internet, researchers developed a passive monitoring system that might soon make Big Tech companies accountable to the public — and even save democracy. "Online manipulative powers, you ask? Isn’t Google just a big, cuddly, electronic public library? If you still believe that nonsense, grow up. Google is actually one of the most rapacious and deceptive companies ever created. Those free tools the company gives you are just gussied-up surveillance platforms, allowing the company to collect information about more than two billion people every day, which they then auction off to advertisers or, in some cases, share with business partners and intelligence agencies."

• Footage of Eric Schmidt: "How people get their information - what they believe, what they don't - is, I think, the project for the next decade." -Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman, Alphabet, Inc., November 10, 2016

• USA Today article (today, July 30) by Robert Epstein, evaluating the President's mental health.

• Could Google rankings skew an election? New group aims to find out (Washington Post, March 14, 2017): "95 monitors in 24 states captured more than 13,000 sets of search rankings and the 98,000 pages to which they linked... Google dismissed Epstein's research as 'nothing more than a poorly constructed conspiracy theory.'"

• Social media manipulation rising globally, new report warns (Oxford University, July 20): "in 48 countries, up from 28 countries last year... there is at least one political party or government agency using social media to manipulate public opinion domestically." See the report summary or the full PDF. (Not written by Dr. Epstein but much to the point of his research.)

• "Manipulating Minds: the power of search engines to influence votes and opinions," Chapter 12 in Digital Dominance: Implications and Risks, by Martin Moore and Damian Tambini (eds.)

• Fake News Is a Fake Problem (Medium.com, April 10, 2017)

• Zuck Off: Six Reasons Mark Zuckerberg Should Quit Facebook Right Now (Daily Caller, June 25)

• The empty brain: Your brain does not process information, retrieve knowledge or store memories (Aeon, May 18, 2016): "In short: your brain is not a computer."

Dr. Epstein suggests:

• Instead of Google, try StartPage.com (I also like DuckDuckGo)

• Instead of Chrome, try the Brave browser. (On mobile, I like the Duck Duck Go mobile app, which is both a browser and search engine)

• Instead of Gmail, try ProtonMail (I also like FastMail)

• See also privacy-preserving alternatives to Google surveillance platforms.

• Finally, read Seven Simple Steps Toward Online Privacy - get off Gmail, get off Android, get off Chrome. In other words, get off of Google. Also, clear your cache and get a VPN.

Recent tech news:

• How Not To Let Your Phone Ruin Your Vacation (NYT, July 25) by Catherine Price, our guest on the April 16 Techtonic episode. Remember, Price writes, that "every time you turn your attention to your phone, you are turning your attention away from everything else."

• This Band Launched a Business Writing Theme Songs for Tech Companies (TIME, July 30), featuring Mobile Steam Unit - the band featured on the July 9 Techtonic episode.

• Facebook’s $120 billion stock hit on Thursday, July 26 (a 19% drop) was the biggest single-day loss in US history (Business Insider, July 30)

• Facebook is sued after stock plunge 'shocked' market (Reuters, July 22): "The complaint filed by shareholder James Kacouris in Manhattan federal court accused Facebook, Zuckerberg and Chief Financial Officer David Wehner of making misleading statements about or failing to disclose slowing revenue growth, falling operating margins, and declines in active users."

• Facebook accused of undermining international aid efforts in Burma because it spreads fake news (Business Insider, July 28): "UK MPs said Facebook's "Free Basics" internet service, which is popular in Burma, was 'deeply unethical.'"

• An open letter to Mark Zuckerberg: our child died at Sandy Hook – why let Facebook lies hurt us even more? (The Guardian, July 25)" We have endured online, telephone, and in-person harassment, abuse, and death threats... In order to protect ourselves and our surviving children, we have had to relocate numerous times. ... We are unable to properly grieve for our baby or move on with our lives because you, arguably the most powerful man on the planet, have deemed that the attacks on us are immaterial, that providing assistance in removing threats is too cumbersome, and that our lives are less important than providing a safe haven for hate."

...all of which led The Onion to write on July 27...



• Not to be outdone by Facebook, Twitter plummets 18% after reporting a decline in monthly active users (Business Insider, July 27)

• Google fined a record $5 billion by the EU for abusing the dominance of Android (Business Insider, July 18) - and here are three reasons why they got the fine.

• Below, from Jason Kint, a thought on Google vs. Facebook:



Ahh, for the good old days...



...vs. what happened instead...



Tonight's outtro, "This Is The Future," is from the New Jersey band 3RDegree. Here's their album Ones & Zeros: vol 1.

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