The Internet and content you see....
Discussion
I was recently reading an article about something not relevant to the above, but they mentioned something called "content farms"....
A little google on this led to me ask if what we are seeing is what the Internet really is, or what our ISP wants us to see.
Back in the wild west days of Dialup , I think you could probably see everyhting out there, but Im guessing now, theres all sorts of ISP filtering going on.
Am I right ?
A little google on this led to me ask if what we are seeing is what the Internet really is, or what our ISP wants us to see.
Back in the wild west days of Dialup , I think you could probably see everyhting out there, but Im guessing now, theres all sorts of ISP filtering going on.
Am I right ?
"The Dead Internet Theory" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEn758DVF9I
Google something mundane with eleventy billion hits, maybe "cats". Then see how many pages of those results Google will actually show you.
Google something mundane with eleventy billion hits, maybe "cats". Then see how many pages of those results Google will actually show you.
The above is the simplest way to put it, to add context… when you download apple or windows updates, they don’t really come from Apple or Microsoft, they come from a content delivery network and are likely cached closer to you so as they can be delivered quickly without relying on an individual server to serve too much content.
If you’re streaming almost anything on TV, it doesn’t really come from that channel but is ingested in to a CDN and then spat out around the globe.
If you’re streaming almost anything on TV, it doesn’t really come from that channel but is ingested in to a CDN and then spat out around the globe.
There is also the subject of search engine bias too. So, from what I've read, Google (for example) notes what you like and believe based on your searches and is (apparently) more likely to return results that closer match your own perspective.
For example, if you were to Google "Flat Earth", a believer Vs a none believer would both receive different results to the same search, all based on how you've browsed and searched in the past.
This is what gives more weight to conspiracies and warps what is real and what is not.
So no, I don't think you ever get a true picture of the full internet, even if all pages were accessible (which I'm sure they aren't for many reasons).
For example, if you were to Google "Flat Earth", a believer Vs a none believer would both receive different results to the same search, all based on how you've browsed and searched in the past.
This is what gives more weight to conspiracies and warps what is real and what is not.
So no, I don't think you ever get a true picture of the full internet, even if all pages were accessible (which I'm sure they aren't for many reasons).
somouk said:
The above is the simplest way to put it, to add context… when you download apple or windows updates, they don’t really come from Apple or Microsoft, they come from a content delivery network and are likely cached closer to you so as they can be delivered quickly without relying on an individual server to serve too much content.
If you’re streaming almost anything on TV, it doesn’t really come from that channel but is ingested in to a CDN and then spat out around the globe.
How is a CDN funded? Do they place the adverts in the local content or similar? If you’re streaming almost anything on TV, it doesn’t really come from that channel but is ingested in to a CDN and then spat out around the globe.
Cloudy147 said:
There is also the subject of search engine bias too. So, from what I've read, Google (for example) notes what you like and believe based on your searches and is (apparently) more likely to return results that closer match your own perspective.....).
Google first and foremost returns results based on who's paid them.Yes, loads of fake lists and recommendations, all with affiliate links.
Basically, ask for an electric blanket recommendation and you'll get hundreds of results like "top 10 electric blankets 2022" that will give you a completely AI generated fake review based on the product info, and a winner in each category and a link to buy each one.
A lot of the internet is these fake lists
Basically, ask for an electric blanket recommendation and you'll get hundreds of results like "top 10 electric blankets 2022" that will give you a completely AI generated fake review based on the product info, and a winner in each category and a link to buy each one.
A lot of the internet is these fake lists
Thats What She Said said:
RizzoTheRat said:
How is a CDN funded? Do they place the adverts in the local content or similar?
Website owners pay to have their sites hosted on a CDN (such as Amazon Web Services, or Cloudflare for example).The whole architecture of the internet is predominately driven by cost reduction, and far less than you'd expect by governments or other parties trying to control what you're seeing, or to see it themselves.
One of the biggest challenges is that the protocols the internet is based on were defined before this cost-driven architecture came about. The internet would be very different if you re-started today from a clean sheet.
RobbieTheTruth said:
Yes, loads of fake lists and recommendations, all with affiliate links.
Basically, ask for an electric blanket recommendation and you'll get hundreds of results like "top 10 electric blankets 2022" that will give you a completely AI generated fake review based on the product info, and a winner in each category and a link to buy each one.
A lot of the internet is these fake lists
And there's a constant battle going on between Google trying to distinguish between content written by humans and content created by AI, and the webmasters trying to find undetectable ways of creating that content with AI instead of paying human writers to write it.Basically, ask for an electric blanket recommendation and you'll get hundreds of results like "top 10 electric blankets 2022" that will give you a completely AI generated fake review based on the product info, and a winner in each category and a link to buy each one.
A lot of the internet is these fake lists
Somebody posted on here a few years ago saying Google was manipulating results for iPhone users, which I dismissed.
I was wrong, Google's almost unusable these days without adding "reddit.com" on the search string.
The first few minutes of this Dead Internet Theory video seems intriguing.
I was wrong, Google's almost unusable these days without adding "reddit.com" on the search string.
The first few minutes of this Dead Internet Theory video seems intriguing.
Cloudy147 said:
For example, if you were to Google "Flat Earth", a believer Vs a none believer would both receive different results to the same search, all based on how you've browsed and searched in the past.
So when a Conspiracy Theorist says, "Do your own research!" are they getting the truth and we're only finding lies? 
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