I’ve been complaining for a while about the
fact that we get personalized publicity and search results. Thanks to the power
of Google we’re evermore exposed to buy stuff specifically designed for us. But
this time, facebook, you got it wrong! In your face, sucker!!!
While on my paid work
hours break, I decided to check facebook. I must confess, I recently
bought my shoes through an ad there, so in spite of my
do-not-hit-Like-on-anything-on-facebook policy they are doing their homework
and convinced to spend my Swiss sweet francs. But in your face Zucker(berg) you got this
one wrong. They were trying to sell me… wait for it… wedding invitations. Can
you believe it? Wedding H. Invitations!!!!
Well this abomination set my 10-watt light
bulb into the verge of exploding. It got me thinking that in the near future we
are going to receive specifically the right publicity exactly aimed at each of
us. And it is bound to be correct. I bought a pair of shoes because I got a
tiny shoegasm at the moment I saw them. Why didn’t facebook send me the most
absorbent menstrual pads (God knows I need them) but instead insist on selling
me condoms “almost for free” and well… shoes.
I insist. Google knows me. Facebook knows
me. How? I don’t have any idea but it scares de baby cheessus out of me. Right
about then, the second question popped out. This erroneous publicity reminded
me of how misogynous Google can be. For those of you who do not read my
facebook updates, I leave this picture as a memento.
Yes, it’s probably an unintended bug, but
what if the people—or lines of code—steering publicity… and search suggestions…
and twitter’s “you should follow”… and Amazon’s “people also bought”… and etc.
are exactly that: misogynous, or homophobes or even worse: religious.
Publicity is something we cannot avoid. We
cannot close our eyes while checking facebook or gmail and we also can’t pay
for their services, and these people know it. Where does that leave us? We have
first to judge even especially the publicity we get and urge
Google to deactivate these kinds of filters. We do not want Big Brother—corporate
or governmental—to tell us what we want. We want to get uncensored internet
from all sides, we want ALL sides of internet to prevent the dystopia SOPA is
trying to achieve. Even if that means growing up thinking menstrual pads are
actually shoulder pads and they are capable of sucking a whole river dry.
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