lorenbake writes "Scoble is one of many to report that Google has filed a patent for user targeted, or attention targeted, search results which will change the ranking of Google's organic results per each individual user based upon that user's search behavior, location, sites visited, and even 'typing behavior'. How could Google build such user profiles to serve customized organic (non-paid) results to? Tracking via their network of desktop apps, advertising, Gmail, and other network services." Google Patent for User Targeted Search Results Log in/Create an Account | Top | 154 comments | Search Discussion Display Options Threshold: -1: 154 comments 0: 153 comments 1: 118 comments 2: 77 comments 3: 36 comments 4: 19 comments 5: 15 comments Flat Nested No Comments Threaded Oldest First Newest First Highest Scores First Oldest First (Ignore Threads) Newest First (Ignore Threads) The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way. Do No Evil (Score:5, Funny) by Soporific (595477) on Sunday November 06, @01:55PM (#13963833) Do no evil. Unless you have shareholders?~S [ Reply to ThisRe:Do No Evil by Anonymous Coward (Score:3) Sunday November 06, @03:00PMRe:Do No Evil by Lucractius (Score:2) Monday November 07, @12:46AMTemptation risk VERY high by davidwr (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @03:02PM Re:Temptation risk VERY high (Score:4, Insightful) by General Alcazar (726259) on Sunday November 06, @03:27PM (#13964407) That is a nice sentiment, but if you are going to make such a bylaw, you would have to define "evil".Unfortunately, in the real world, things are not so black and white. [ Reply to This | ParentRe:Temptation risk VERY high by fyoder (Score:3) Sunday November 06, @03:28PMEvil isn't what I'm worried about by FatBear (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @03:22PMRe:Evil isn't what I'm worried about by hhawk (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @04:40PMRe:Evil isn't what I'm worried about by FatBear (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @05:43PMRe:Evil isn't what I'm worried about by hhawk (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @06:11PMRe:Evil isn't what I'm worried about by jacksonj04 (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @06:22PMRe:Evil isn't what I'm worried about by FatBear (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @10:25PMGoogle duo splash out for airliner by linumax (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @03:43PMRe:Do No Evil by GoodOmens (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @03:58PM Grant your trust for the right reasons (Score:4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 06, @03:36PM (#13964461) These are actions Google has actually taken:Helped Chinese authorities to censor their subjects' Internet access.(http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/News/Details.aspx ?NewsId=14130 [cdrinfo.com])Selectively approved and refused ads, based on political content.(http://www.unknownnews.net/google.html [unknownnews.net])(http://www.thenation.com/doc/20040830/reilly [thenation.com])Permanently collected search history for everyone who has ever used their site.(http://www.google.com/intl/en/privacypolicy.html [google.com]) (http://www.techweb.com/wire/ebiz/161500535 [techweb.com])Permanently collected/indexed the email history and content of all gmail users, for marketing and law-enforcement use.(http://mail.google.com/mail/help/privacy.html [google.com])Filed obvious software patents.(Refer to this slashdot story.)For me, when people's actions directly contradict their words, I reduce my trust in them accordingly. Google can keep claiming to "do no evil," but the words are becoming more and more empty."How is it evil? It could be evil because its very powerful but in the right hands.. it could be good for everyone."There's a simple way to tell if someone is likely to abuse power. When someone collects power over you, and states that it's for a purpose which doesn't require that power, you are being misled. [ Reply to This | ParentRe:Grant your trust for the right reasons by Artevelde (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @04:16PMRe:Grant your trust for the right reasons by 42forty-two42 (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @06:27PMRe:Grant your trust for the right reasons by Retric (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @10:01PMRe:Grant your trust for the right reasons by 42forty-two42 (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @10:13PM1 reply beneath your current threshold. Big Brother is watching (Score:2, Funny) by martinultima (832468) on Sunday November 06, @01:55PM (#13963838) (http://ultima-inet.kicks-ass.org/~multima | Last Journal: Wednesday November 02, @07:54AM) 2084. Google will rule the government. Wherever you look, everything you see will be tailored to what you want to see. Screw normal advertising, you'll be seeing "Google AdSense billboards" which display roadside alerts and stuff based on whatever you're thinking. Google is the new thought police... [ Reply to ThisRe:Big Brother is watching by Walterk (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @03:11PM1 reply beneath your current threshold. Evil, Google. Google, Evil. (Score:4, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 06, @01:55PM (#13963844) I'm sure you two will get along.The main reason any big company patents anything is so they can violate the patents of other companies."What's that, Microsoft? We're violating your patent #314159265? Well you're violating our patent number #299792458. Lets call it even, shall we?" [ Reply to ThisMAKE MONEY OFF PATENT VIOLATIONS???!?!!!111 by killa62 (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @03:13PMSome offtopic notes by game kid (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @03:26PM Help me Slashdot!!! (Score:5, Funny) by Psionicist (561330) on Sunday November 06, @01:56PM (#13963846) It's about (= 'Google 'good), but also about (= 'patents 'evil), what to do, what to THINK!!! [ Reply to ThisSolidarity is for Squids by Mateo_LeFou (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @01:58PM1 reply beneath your current threshold.Re:Help me Slashdot!!! by Anonymous Coward (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @02:07PMRe:Help me Slashdot!!! by Parham (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @02:29PMRe:Help me Slashdot!!! by Halfbaked Plan (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @02:32PMHelp is near, help is near... help is here! by Elad Alon (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @04:40PMRe:Help is near, help is near... help is here! by JimBowen (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @06:21PM1 reply beneath your current threshold. The Google Future (Score:1) by chengee (821396) on Sunday November 06, @01:56PM (#13963847) Exciting times we live in... Yahoo and MSN must prevail! [ Reply to This1 reply beneath your current threshold. geez (Score:1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 06, @01:57PM (#13963852) everyones jumping on the organic bandwagon... wonder when we'll see low carb google [ Reply to This Filing a patent is EVIL (Score:1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 06, @01:57PM (#13963857) Since filing a patent is evil, Google has violated its "do no evil" policy. Google does like most other companies do immoral things when it benefits the stock holders. Now that we know that, can we please not get a stupid Google story in Slashdot every day? It is tiresome and the company is just as evil as all other companies. [ Reply to ThisRe:Filing a patent is EVIL by crache (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @02:04PMRe:Filing a patent is EVIL by whayworth (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @02:19PMRe:Filing a patent is EVIL by soma_0806 (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @02:42PM1 reply beneath your current threshold.Re:Filing a patent is EVIL by Anonymous Coward (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @02:11PMRe:Filing a patent is EVIL by ergo98 (Score:3) Sunday November 06, @02:33PMRe:Filing a patent is EVIL by Eustace Tilley (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @03:05PMMoral code of patents by oddityfds (Score:3) Sunday November 06, @04:33PM Just my 2 cents... (Score:5, Insightful) by Froze (398171) on Sunday November 06, @01:58PM (#13963861) (http://butsuri.homelinux.net/) Before this goes all big brother...I just want to say that I hove no problem with targeted advertising at all. If there is a way that does not impose on my personal freedoms to selectiviely show me things that I might be interested in purchasing it is not only ok but much preffered to the massive spamvertisement campaigns that go on now. [ Reply to ThisRe:Just my 2 cents... by cgenman (Score:3) Sunday November 06, @04:23PM2 replies beneath your current threshold. All I want.. (Score:5, Insightful) by lightyear4 (852813) on Sunday November 06, @02:01PM (#13963883) (http://www.fugitivethought.com/steve/blog.php) All I want...is the ability to easily opt out. [ Reply to ThisRe:All I want.. by crache (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @02:07PMRe:All I want.. by Jugalator (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @02:29PMRe:All I want.. by raoul666 (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @04:07PMRe:All I want.. by Jack9 (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @06:25PM1 reply beneath your current threshold. Disposable personalities (Score:3, Interesting) by zecg (521666) on Sunday November 06, @02:02PM (#13963884) Don't allow cookies accross sessions, dispose of your personalities and change your gmail accounts regularly, use only GPG 4096-byte encrypted text in your gmail account, put on your tinfoil hat when thinking anything at all and - you'll still be within the System, tracked and numbered. [ Reply to ThisRe:Disposable personalities by jessecurry (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @02:51PM This is awesome! (Score:5, Insightful) by LaughingCoder (914424) on Sunday November 06, @02:06PM (#13963906) Those guys at $oogle are making Microsoft look like amateurs when it comes to world domination! [ Reply to ThisRe:This is awesome! by Frankie70 (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @07:21PMRe:This is awesome! by Pneuma ROCKS (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @03:48PM2 replies beneath your current threshold. All the world's information (Score:5, Insightful) by Ifni (545998) on Sunday November 06, @02:06PM (#13963909) (http://slashdot.org/) ... includes yours. [ Reply to ThisFunny? by enjahova (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @04:03PM Fine by me (Score:5, Insightful) by Turn-X Alphonse (789240) on Sunday November 06, @02:06PM (#13963911) (Last Journal: Sunday September 19, @10:03PM) My Gmail account is my "send everything here" account. It gets spam from every where from tin foil hat sites to live journal. If you can find a way to work out what I like from "Person X has replied to your comment with 'lol, I agree' " then that's fine by me. [ Reply to ThisRe:Fine by me by whovian (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @02:17PMRe:Fine by me by Punboy (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @04:15PM Re:Fine by me (Score:5, Funny) by aoe2bug (625814) on Sunday November 06, @02:33PM (#13964052) (http://dboyle.pbwiki.com/) lol, i agree [ Reply to This | Parent2 replies beneath your current threshold.lol, I agree by TyrelHaveman (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @03:55PMRe:Fine by me by ZachPruckowski (Score:2) Monday November 07, @12:34AM1 reply beneath your current threshold. Cradle-to-Grave Ad Tracking (Score:5, Interesting) by K-Man (4117) on Sunday November 06, @02:08PM (#13963923) Let's face it, the only economic reason for a company to build and host a bunch of unrelated applications is to link together advertising and user profiles. Why else would a search engine be talking about providing free WiFi service? So they can track users' locations and deliver location-targeted ads. [ Reply to ThisRe:Cradle-to-Grave Ad Tracking by warhammerkid (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @05:41PM Welcome to the future (Score:4, Insightful) by Colin Smith (2679) on Sunday November 06, @02:09PM (#13963928) (http://mrprecision.blogspot.com/) Where computers and systems know what you want and then give it to you. Good? Evil? Well that all depends on intent doesn't it.  [ Reply to ThisRe:Welcome to the future by VJ42 (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @02:19PMRe:Welcome to the future by vettemph (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @04:43PM Are patnets evil? (Score:2, Insightful) by a_greer2005 (863926) on Sunday November 06, @02:10PM (#13963929) NO! the abuse of ptents is evil, and Google has yet to do this, they are just defending themselves in the arms race against ass-hats like Bezose and Gates, who patented the single and double clicks respectively, and other such loonicy.Google has yet to cross thhe line, untill they do, I will respect them -- HELL, if they havent abused teir power by now, why would they start? [ Reply to ThisRe:Are patnets evil? by superpulpsicle (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @02:22PMRe:Are patnets evil? by Jugalator (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @02:34PMRe:Are patnets evil? by duerra (Score:3) Sunday November 06, @02:47PMRe:Are patnets evil? by Temporal (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @03:10PMRe:Are patnets evil? by tiredoftryingtofindo (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @03:01PMRe:Are patnets evil? by fyoder (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @03:52PMDepends on who does the patting by baomike (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @04:24PM1 reply beneath your current threshold. It's already being done (Score:5, Informative) by Slashdoc Beta (925619) on Sunday November 06, @02:11PM (#13963942) (http://www.slashdoc.com/) On some seaches you perform you see a "personalized results (BETA)" message. I didn't really have a chance to determine whether the results are better, other than that it ranks the sites you visited before higher. [ Reply to ThisRe:It's already being done by Rayaru (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @02:17PM Filing patents to prevent patent misuse (Score:3, Insightful) by ip_fired (730445) on Sunday November 06, @02:12PM (#13963952) (http://www.pojo.us/) Perhaps they are filing the patent to prevent other companies from filing a similar patent and then using it against Google? Google has already started down the road of targetted ads for their users and storing everything they can about the user's search habits.For example, if you sign up for a personalized google page, they'll start tracking your searchs, and they will even let you go back and look at the searches that you made weeks ago.I personally like this kind of stuff. It's useful to me if I forgot to bookmark a site that I liked, I can go back through my search history and find the site again. [ Reply to ThisRe:Filing patents to prevent patent misuse by Halfbaked Plan (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @02:39PM1 reply beneath your current threshold. What were you expecting? (Score:3, Informative) by whayworth (928952) on Sunday November 06, @02:14PM (#13963957) All the clues were there: context-sensitive ads in GMail was just an obvious one. If you sign up for an account with Google, you agree to their licensing terms; you do the same when instsalling an operating system from a corporation who shall not be named. If you don't like the idea that Google has access to your email, realize that any other provider has the same privileges; it's just that Google, intelligently (but not necessarily morally defensible), chose to take advantage of them. If you didn't use Google, it would be your ISP or another email provider (unless you have your own server).TANSTAAFL. [ Reply to ThisRe:What were you expecting? by InsaneGeek (Score:3) Sunday November 06, @05:15PM Subject (Score:1) by trollable (928694) on Sunday November 06, @02:19PM (#13963979) (http://www.milliondollarscreenshot.com/) You still have software patents? How unlucky you are! BTW, nothing new. It has been done many times (and long time ago) but in general for a specific domain (music, ...). Google is just introducing targeted search to their own system, which is a bit more global. Now burn the USPTO. [ Reply to This Get ready to watch ... (Score:5, Funny) by ngunton (460215) on Sunday November 06, @02:19PM (#13963982) (http://www.neilgunton.com/) ... as all the Google fanboys do mental summersaults to twist reality to fit the conflicting notions that Google can do nothing wrong, and yet web patents are so very, very wrong...I can see it now, future headline:Google CEO Revealed as Beelzebub Prince of Darkness, Mountain View New 7th Circle of HellSlashdot comments:"Well, you know, Satan *is* very misunderstood""Gmail still rocks! I don't care if the Google minions sacrifice a kitten every time I check my mail, as long as I have my 100 TB of storage! Whoohoo!""I just sold my eternal soul for more relevant search results - but hey, I got a great price on this DVD player! Thanks Asmodeus!""My monitor smokes a bit when I do searches now, but hey - I can find out what all my friends have been *really* thinking about me! Hey, this new GoogleBrainCrawler kicks butt! Go Google! But ... make the voices stop, please?""Yahoo! made a deal with the ancient Nordic Gods but they're just playing catch up at this point""Jeez guys, if it was Microsoft making a deal with Belial then we'd be all over it but just because it's Google, you're all ... erk ... ack ... (transmission terminated)" [ Reply to ThisRe:Get ready to watch ... by miffo.swe (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @03:08PMRe:Get ready to watch ... by Anonymous Coward (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @03:31PMRe:Get ready to watch ... by Anonymous Coward (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @03:33PMRe:Get ready to watch ... by WilliamSChips (Score:1) Sunday November 06, @03:48PM1 reply beneath your current threshold.3 replies beneath your current threshold. you are what you buy (Score:3, Funny) by moviepig.com (745183) on Sunday November 06, @02:28PM (#13964022) (http://www.moviepig.com/) ...change the ranking of Google's organic results per each individual user...Okay, here's a tinfoil-wrapped theory for your light enjoyment:Psychologists have long claimed that advertising affects our psyches (e.g., cartoon shows' cereal and toy ads, the NFL's beer ads...). Google proposes to detect those changes in our psyches, and presumably to reinforce them. This could amount to a self-fulfilling and dangerous feedback-loop... resulting in mental image-burn, if not outright transformation. Before the body-snatching takes hold, I'm writing my congressperson... [ Reply to This it's all good (Score:5, Insightful) by intmainvoid (109559) on Sunday November 06, @02:28PM (#13964024) Makes perfect sense for google to track which links i click on - essentially i'm filtering out the type results I don't want, so if the search algorithm can learn from that and produce more relevant results, then great!Privacy isn't such an issue on this considering Google already has this information on a per user level - this probably doesn't raise any additional privacy concerns. [ Reply to ThisRe:it's all good by Anonymous Coward (Score:2) Sunday November 06, @03:31PM OK... exactly how does one reconcile... (Score:1) by kclittle (625128) on Sunday November 06, @02:30PM (#13964033) ... a motto of "do no evil" with patent applications that use phrases such as "user targeted"? Obviously I am not a customer to be served, but a resource to be "targeted". What next, "identify and neutralize"? "Search and destroy"?-k [ Reply to This They probably have to do this (Score:5, Insightful) by max born (739948) on Sunday November 06, @02:34PM (#13964057) Google is not necessarily evil for doing taking out a patent. We live in a world of IP and patents. They probably have to do this for protection.However, if Google starts using this patent to thwart their competition then they'll be making a mockery of their own do-no-evil slogan. [ Reply to ThisThey don't have to do this by nothings (Score:2) Monday November 07, @12:23AM Weaving A Story (Score:3, Funny) by ObsessiveMathsFreak (773371) <obsessivemathsfreakNO@SPAMeircom.net> on Sunday November 06, @02:36PM (#13964067) (Last Journal: Wednesday March 30, @11:38AM) I'm sure I could write a witty comment about how the once noble Google has fallen from grace and sold its soul, rising like a rocket to the grat and smog filled heights of modern corperate decadence, but the storyline has probably been patented by now. [ Reply to This Defensive Maneuver? (Score:2) by polv0 (596583) on Sunday November 06, @02:36PM (#13964068) What with gmail being copyrighted in the UK, perhaps this is designed to prevent others from frivously patenting google's technology and then suing them in an attempt to get paid off? [ Reply to This Bloody 'ell! (Score:2, Informative) by DysenteryInTheRanks (902824) on Sunday November 06, @02:38PM (#13964077) (http://www.televisio...com/show.cgi?show=44) Remember, in this wonderful technocapitalist system of ours, YOU HAVE A CHOICE!If you don't want to support the 767-buying [independent.co.uk], patent-filing search engine [google.com], you could switch to ...... the search engine [yahoo.com] that snitches on dissidents [iht.com] to the secret police of totalitarian China!... the search engine run by a bullying monopoly that has run afoul [cfo.com] of anti-trust laws.