GOOGLE’s Creepy Line

The Creepy Line is a particularly sinister term used in an unguarded remark by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt in 2010. In hindsight, what is most disturbing about the comment is how casually he explained Google’s policy regarding invading the privacy of its customers and clients.

“Google policy on a lot of these things,” Schmidt says about 45 seconds into the introduction, “is to get right up to the creepy line and not cross it.” Time pointer needed.

The Creepy Line is an 80-minute documentary available through several options available at the link below.  For now, it is available for free at Amazon Prime, but I’m not sure how long it will be offered there considering many current concerns regarding censorship of anti-establishment themes on various social media platforms.  This film offers a very frank look at the number one source of news in our country: Facebook and Google.

https://www.thecreepyline.com/

Early in the film, you will discover how Google acquired an enormous and permanent cache of data about users. Initially, the data was used to refine search algorithms used to help index the websites and information uploaded to the world wide web. Now, however, it is used to fine-tune ads and content that most suits your interests, storing the information to better provide content suggestions for you. But, this film will give you a really disquieting idea (at least it should) about what else they may be doing with that data.

Initially, Google was simply the most popular Search engine, basically the largest available “indexing” algorithm on the net. Then, Google came up with Google Chrome, a browser, to track and log not only what you look for but also where you go and every keystroke you make while there. In fact, Google realized they could serve you best if they know what you are doing even when offline, which is why the the Android system can track you everywhere you take your phone. With all the free apps available and used globally, Google has a very accurate picture of what everyone’s daily life looks like anywhere in the world.

At intervals during the presentation, Professor Jordan Peterson offers insight from his own experience with social media and agenda setting.  For those unfamiliar with Peterson, he was propelled into fame when he very publicly refused to use the new gender pronouns approved by Canada’s Political Correct Policy. Peterson’s outspoken refusal to yield to the thought police led to him being interviewed as being a spokesman for the Millennial Mindset, especially their willingness to accept new technology without questioning it.

“These are all free services but obviously they’re not,” notes Peterson, during his commentary, as he discusses the impact upon his life his sudden notoriety and the negative publicity Google and You Tube caused for him. He discusses his own battle with depression as well as insights into his daughter’s experiences with social media, which gives him special psychiatric insight into teenage (millennial) angst, perhaps.  Some may find his frank openness about the issues off-putting, but he comes across to me as a man who has walked through hell and doesn’t want to talk about it, but has decided he will do so, if you are interested. I find Peterson’s point of view extremely relevant, especially in light of the the news regarding Peak Prosperity’s de-platforming today and the implications for our own sources of information going forward.

He is not the main speaker during the film, but Peterson does an excellent job explaining how the surveillance business model works.  This leads to a discussion of how Google Maps, Google Docs, and the use of Gmail (even drafts of emails you don’t send!) combine together to form and shape your thoughts and behavior, similar to a bunch of people in a control room with dials which monitor and control your every interaction with the world. (15:28)

Less than ten minutes into the movie, you might have already decided to turn to non-Google search engines, but there is no hope of your retrieving any information they already have on you. It belongs to them, a legal point discussed several times during the presentation.

We already know Facebook censors conservative views and downplays trending stories favorable to conservatives, and the movie assures us Google and You Tube work on similar algorithms. Algorithmic choices must be based on something, but to remain supposedly objective, nothing should be completely filtered out, only put into some sort of rational order. Rational could be chronological, or most viewed, or relevant, for instance, but for that rational variable in the algorithm, something will come first.

As long as nothing is excluded, albeit, as long as you can find them on the list somewhere, there is at least a rational reason for their placement and the semblance of objectivity is retained.  Whether you agree with the rationality is not relevant at this point.  Except, that we know filters are restricting information for very irrational reasons.

In the discussion, we discover Facebook Social Engineers insert stories into news feeds which they want people to see. This means not only is Facebook a gatekeeper for your news, they are also propaganda pushers. The concerns that Facebook could easily influence elections by sending messages to certain types of individuals most likely to be influenced deserves at least some discussion by some governmental agency, doesn’t it?

Well? the discussion with Zuckerberg during the film shows his disregard for users’ privacy concerns.  That CYA attitude is obvious throughout when we are reminded of all the “terms of use” we have agreed to over the years.

Facebook and these other internet entities claiming company rights without accountability are communities without voting citizens. Since the majority of voters claim to get their news from Facebook or Google associated sources, this is an issue people should realize really will impact our ability to use social media for reliable news.  We have no access to details concerning how decisions are made regarding censorship on any of these platforms.  We have every reason to believe they are not necessarily rational or definitely are not ethical. While Facebook seemed at one time to be a wonderful way to connect humanity across the world, it brought with that connection an overabundance of unintended consequences which may introduce a new Dark Age.

Google and Facebook are a kind of corporate partnership which has unprecedented power and influence over public opinion. Psychologist and Google critic Robert Epstein (a large contributor to the documentary) found that, by sheer coincidence, the day after he wrote an article called “Could Google Tilt a Close Election?” he couldn’t access the Internet through any browser. If you are time-constrained and hope for the meat of the matter, around the 34-minute point, Peterson discusses his reaction to Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s comment about getting close to the creepy line but not crossing it.  He suggests cultures once taught children to stay away from the creepy line, but that somehow, digital capability has altered the understanding of what the creepy line represents.

The movie discusses the concepts behind Search Engine Manipulation Effect (SEME) which has powerful implications since 90% of searchers select the first on the list. At 38:30 a good introduction to the impact of Negativity Bias helps explain the ability to suppress ideas deemed “negative” in public opinion.

“If they have this kind of power then democracy is an illusion,” says Roger Epstein. “There have to be in place numerous safeguards to make sure not only that they don’t exercise these powers but that they can’t exercise these powers.”  At 44:28, you will discover that the Federal Government runs on Google and when you learn how much of our nations classified data is trusted to Google, it should make most of us even more aware of our lapses in internet discernment in days gone by.

I believe, it is vital to note the film was made by the makers of “Clinton Cash.”

And Google executive Eric Schmidt, infamous for his “creepy line” comment, became part of the Clinton campaign in 2016 but by then, we’d all come to realize there was something a little creepy about Google, anyway, hadn’t we? While the video does provide a lot of anecdotal evidence with some scientific (social statistics) analysis to support the idea that internet gatekeepers introduce liberal bias, the evidence is sketchy about how internet platforms are monetized and what we might do to resist the influence these tech giants possess in our government institutions.

This is a discussion  we should force our federal servants to have because those agencies have become part of the hiring grounds for big tech companies.  They simply hire influence.  It is a discussion we do need to have as we face the direction technology is pushing us toward: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Artificially Intelligent Decisions.

Instead of War Games’s discovery there is no way to win, AI may decide nobody really has a need to know who won. Google got caught before favoring its own commercial services by antitrust regulators, which is discussed in the movie. Assuming those who control Google might very well show favor in politics is a valid worry when considering the ability of many of their hired “monitors” to delete or insert content based on their own bias at will. (The video discusses several known instances of this happening.)

Unfortunately, there is not an obvious solution, but one suggestion is that Google, Facebook, YouTube, et al be legally defined as media companies and be subject to the same legal burdens which apply to mainstream media corporations. In other words, the suggestion is that they be held accountable for their actions. These enormous companies have created algorithms that in turn have created sorting systems that attempt to direct and control (quite successfully) every aspect of our lives, without our even being fully aware of their impact on our decisions.

It is time we educate ourselves before we become “re-educated.”

Overall, I think The Creepy Line is a good way to begin a much needed public debate, but it is at least a way to get yourself educated a bit about why you should send a donation to The Burning Platform today and thank Jim Quinn for continuing to host a wide variety of contributors here at this page while he can.

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Steve
Steve

Peak Prosperity deplatformed? Whoa!
Truth will be defined for you. Everyday becomes more dystopian at an accelerating pace.

M G
M G

Demonetized is perhaps the correct term? I may have mis-typed. I was reviewing the Creepy Line when I saw They Don’t Want the Truth Revealed and hoped to tie-in the very relevant current event.

M G
M G

To show Chris is NOT deplatformed, but explains what is happening at the onset. His tone is not angry… he really seems to be trying to inform and not spread panic.

M G
M G

comment image

Put your money where your internet news comes from while you still can.

I just did.

TampaRed

good article–there have been postings on here about how facebook is already affecting close elections–
what are the solutions besides regulating them as utilities? break em up?leave em alone?criminalize not being neutral ?any others?

M G
M G

Is a debate we should have. LOUD.

TampaRed

mg,
a few weeks back you had a thread about privacy,or our lack of it –i posted about a company that was scraping social media for data 4 it’s facial recognition system that had billions of images–
that company has been hacked & one of the tidbits that has come out is that some big companies have been using them–

https://www.komando.com/security-privacy/clearview-breach-retail-stores/708927/?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=notd&utm_content=2020-02-29

M G
M G

Tampa, I hope a few people will take advantage of the link to the movie and will educate themselves a bit about the issues (facial recognition is discussed but I wanted to keep my review short), but I am betting personal biases will stop most from even bothering.

I will send the link to a few other places, and being able to mirror these important issues from here is worth my support. Is why I sent a hundred bucks to Admin to thank him for posting my essays.

Robert Gore

Great article about a vital topic, thanks for posting it. I reposted it on SLL.

M G
M G

Thank you, RG. I think it is an important issue people should educate themselves about. This movie is a good start to the discussion, I hope.

If you have any spare moments to peruse this post from a few days ago, I’d hoped to get your opinion about my recent about changes in policy limiting citizens from representing themselves in court.

I think that limits my ability to petition for redress of grievances as guaranteed by the 1st Amendment, unbeknownst to many. I know you do not “practice” but you do have a law degree and I respect your opinion.

I think many of the legal processes could be handled by a well-written phone app. Most lawyers rely on their legal assistants to get the papers in order for them, being clueless about anything other than billing rates.

Lawyers vs the Law: Can the Rule of Law Survive?

Anonymous
Anonymous

MG

Lawyers have the ultimate racket. They make, interpret, adjudicate, and enforce the laws, all while the meter runs. What could be more self-serving and ultimately corrupting? Just as the right of association necessarily means the right not to associate with whom we choose not to associate, the 6th Amendment’s right to counsel necessarily implies our right to reject outside counsel and to choose ourselves as our counsel. I can also see your point about abridging the 1st Amendment right to redress of grievance. That’s also a plausible argument, although I would lead off with the 6th Amendment claim if I had to argue it in court.

RG

I switched browsers so it doesn’t yet automatically put me up as Robert Gore.

ordo ab chao
ordo ab chao

Google’s creepy line is just one of a whole web full:

https://www.eurasiareview.com/03022020-redefining-neuroweapons-emerging-capabilities-in-neuroscience-and-neurotechnology-analysis/

annuit coeptis novus ordo seclorum <<—-===

"Lucifer comes to give us the final Luciferic initiation that many people now and in the days ahead, will be facingfor it is an initiation into the New Age. No one will enter the New World Order unless he or she will make a pledge to worship Lucifer"

http://libertytree.ca/quotes/David.Spangler.Quote.ACEF

M G
M G

Well, to be honest, Ordie, I’ve been doing a lot of research and I have several stacks of notes on the other tech giants who are creating One Ring to Rule us all.

It is something one has to do carefully.

TampaRed

as i see it,people are being “sucked” in to the technology & services that these companies are offering b/c of fear of going against the trend,convenience,laziness,or wanting to just be like the in crowd–
basically,we’re our own worst enemy–
the link below is to an article that is part infomercial,part wtf–it’s about complexes & buildings that are monitored and controlled electronically–

https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/smartrent-gives-property-owners-unprecedented-access-to-renters-private-lives/

M G
M G

These things are creeping up on us everywhere. Do you know I “noticed” a new cell tower out in the woods here and thought WTF?

1996 Telecommunication Act redefined communications technology as part of interstate commerce. That is the Biggie.

M G
M G

I’m not posting this elsewhere… by now we realize there may be some big changes on the internet very soon and if you don’t realize how embedded these algorithms are in all of our information processes, well, as Chris says… it really is just about too late but for a lot of reasons other than Peak Pandemic.

John
John

Thanks for the reco on ‘The Creepy Line’ docu. I t was very good, and I saw that Peter Schweizer produced it, so it interested me even more since I just happen to have read 3 of his great books, which those of you who liked that docu, should also look into. If you liked that docu, you will love his books too.

M G
M G

Glad you got some value from it… I think it really opened my eyes to a lot of things.

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