The South African Civil Society Information Service

What the Internet Is Hiding from You

4 Jun 2011

The internet is increasingly becoming an echo chamber in which websites tailor information according to the preferences they detect in each viewer. When some users search the word “Egypt,” they may get the latest news about the revolution, others might only see search results about the pyramids.

The top 50 websites collect an average of 64 bits of personal information each time we visit—and then custom-design their sites to conform to our perceived preferences. What impact will this online filtering have on the future of democracy?

This is a problem especially on Facebook, because the way that information is transmitted on Facebook is with the 'like' button. And the 'like' button, it has a very particular valence. It’s easy to click 'like' on 'I just ran a marathon' or 'I baked a really awesome cake.' It’s very hard to click 'like' on 'war in Afghanistan enters its 10th year'.

In the clip above, Democracy Now speaks to Eli Pariser, author of The Filter Bubble: What the Internet Is Hiding from You

For a full transcript of the interview, please click here.

Read more articles filed under Videos.

Read more articles tagged with: Internet.

You can find this page online at http://sacsis.org.za/site/article/380.19.