The Filter Bubble, Eli Pariser
The Filter Bubble, Eli Pariser
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The Filter Bubble
What the Internet Is Hiding from You

Author: Eli Pariser

Narrator: Kirby Heyborne

Unabridged: 7 hr 33 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 05/12/2011


Synopsis

In December 2009, Google began customizing its search results for each user. Instead of giving you the most broadly popular result, Google now tries to predict what you are most likely to click on. According to MoveOn.org board president Eli Pariser, Google's change in policy is symptomatic of the most significant shift to take place on the Web in recent years—the rise of personalization. In this groundbreaking investigation of the new hidden Web, Pariser uncovers how this growing trend threatens to control how we consume and share information as a society—and reveals what we can do about it.

Though the phenomenon has gone largely undetected until now, personalized filters are sweeping the Web, creating individual universes of information for each of us. Facebook—the primary news source for an increasing number of Americans—prioritizes the links it believes will appeal to you so that if you are a liberal, you can expect to see only progressive links. Even an old-media bastion like The Washington Post devotes the top of its home page to a news feed with the links your Facebook friends are sharing. Behind the scenes, a burgeoning industry of data companies is tracking your personal information to sell to advertisers, from your political leanings to the color you painted your living room to the hiking boots you just browsed on Zappos.

In a personalized world, we will increasingly be typed and fed only news that is pleasant, familiar, and confirms our beliefs—and because these filters are invisible, we won't know what is being hidden from us. Our past interests will determine what we are exposed to in the future, leaving less room for the unexpected encounters that spark creativity, innovation, and the democratic exchange of ideas.

While we all worry that the Internet is eroding privacy or shrinking our attention spans, Pariser uncovers a more pernicious and far-reaching trend and shows how we can—and must—change course. With vivid detail and remarkable scope, The Filter Bubble reveals how personalization undermines the Internet's original purpose as an open platform for the spread of ideas and could leave us all in an isolated, echoing world.

About Eli Pariser

Eli Pariser is the board president and former executive director of MoveOn.org, which at five million members is one of the largest citizens' organizations in American politics. During his time leading MoveOn, he sent 937,510,800 e-mails to members in his name. He has written op-eds for the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal and has appeared on The Colbert Report, Good Morning America, Fresh Air, and World News Tonight.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Daniel on April 09, 2012

I read this book because it’s very well-known, because he gave a famous talk about this at a recent TED conference, and because I work and do research on how people think about the information they get from the internet. In the end, Pariser and I both think about these things a great deal—he worries......more

Goodreads review by Felicia on November 01, 2014

Well, if you want to be terrified about how the web is scooping information about us, stereotyping us, pigeonholing us, basically doing the opposite of what we thought the web was GOING to do for society, then read this book. At the very least, it helps become informed about exactly what we do when......more

Goodreads review by Atila on July 27, 2015

Comecei a ler por influência do @luisbrudna e não me arrependi. Achei que fosse ser um tanto repetitivo um livro inteiro sobre este tema, ou que fosse falar sobre o que já foi dito em outros livros do gênero como o Information. Nem próximo disso. Excelente argumentação, ótimos exemplos, fundamentaçã......more

Goodreads review by Matt on August 21, 2016

Very interesting book. Here are the notes I wrote in the margins while reading it on the Kindle. ------------------- Page 15 Note: This is why I love going to libraries. The chance encounter of a new topic you never thought of exploring. (256) ------------------- Page 17 Note: I need to go to town hall m......more

Goodreads review by Ignacio on November 28, 2017

Si tu y yo realizamos exactamente la misma búsqueda en Google obtendremos resultados distintos. En toda esta maraña de información que se ha convertido internet, encontrar exactamente lo que quieres puede resultar tremendamente complicado, asi que las webs se han propuesto conocerte mejor. A través......more