Rant number 201
The internet is a bloody incredible thing really. You can't argue with it can you? It's changed everyones lives. It's integral to business, its integral to entertainment, its integral to socialising, its pretty integral to our lives these days.
It has many facets which are good. You can socialise in a new way. You can find old friends, new friends. You can find love. Discover music. Watch films.
But with that comes the bad.
The internet is like some huge tentacled Cthulhu. Many limbed and inconceivably huge. That means that there is far too much content out there to ever police it properly and many many dark dark crevices to hide in.
Look hard enough on the internet and you can probably find pretty much anything content wise. You can steal. You can fake. You can stalk or abuse.
There is a ying for every yang.
Which is the problem with what is going on at the moment.
In the Red corner we have the IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry) who are the guys who want to keep their industry safe, their clients properly safe and of course their own jobs and industry safe.
In the Blue corner we have Google who are of course the most powerful internet company of all.
Essentially IFPI want Google to doctor their search results - so that legal websites fall higher in the listings.
A reasonable request in principle, but not necessarily a fair one.
Google you see, try to be impartial. They don't stop people searching for what they want to (unless otherwise instructed by the country of origin.) They don't doctor the search for any reasons more political than cash. They use an algorithm based upon various parameters such as popularity and optimisation.
The IFPI have told them they should 'alter the algorithm' to suit one particular end, which seems wrong to me. Noble or otherwise - it seems a slippery slope to be getting on. Once they have won one battle - the precedent is set for any company or organisations to try and clip the wings of Google as they see if.
And I plain don't like that.
Not of course that they will ask us.
Rant over.
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