I'm not going to comment on your entire post, nor am I against what you're saying, but I did want to comment on this bit:
>It's as if we went down to the local newstand and asked the grocer for a magazine on trucks. He gives us a bunch of magazines on boats, so -- we blame the magazine publishers!
This analogy would be more true to the situation at hand if you say that the magazine publishers are using methods that they know will increase their chances of getting boat magazines in front of your eyes when you're seeking truck magazines. Do you think my assertion is off-base?
The magazine publishers are free to configure their magazines and the world around them in any way they wish. The newstand operator is responsible for what goes on inside his stand. If he's serving up junk, do we go blaming the rest of the world for the quality of his service?
Somehow we've taken Google out of the picture as an independent agent, It's as if whatever program they are running is somehow golden, and by outsiders changing the inputs that Google uses so that it doesn't work correctly that somehow the outsiders are at fault. But outisders don't set the inputs -- Google does. Outsiders don't write the ranking algorithm -- Google does. Outsiders don't make money from having ads alongside search results and tracking individual's search behavior -- Google does. Outsiders are free to do whatever they want -- that's the entire reason for picking one search provider over another, the fact that one engine can take the world as it is and do a better job of organizing it than another one can.
If we don't expect Google to be responsible for how they process data -- if we somehow place Google's poor results and put the blame on the world at large, then exactly what of value is Google providing here in our relationship?
Like I said, I'm a fan. I want them to do well. I'm happy to help if I can. But hell if I'm going to let Google off the hook for providing good search results simply because the nature of the internet has changed. Things change. That's what they're supposed to do.
This is like writing a web app that is open to SQL injection attacks and then getting pissed at everybody else when they crash your system. Except there's one big difference: with an SQL injection attack there is an outsider directly interacting with your system, perhaps malevolently. With Google, outsiders don't even enter data in, Google goes and gets it. We've got the shoe on the wrong foot, as my mother used to say.
I understand what you're getting at, but you're way off the mark here:
> The magazine publishers are free to configure their magazines and the world around them in any way they wish. The newstand operator is responsible for what goes on inside his stand. If he's serving up junk, do we go blaming the rest of the world for the quality of his service?
There's a difference between selling junk and selling something that's obviously criminal. If you walked into a store where every magazine had "VIAGRA - 50% OFF. MAIL US YOUR MONEY". Do you honestly mean to tell me that the magazines in question were perfectly ok and it was the magazine vendor who did something wrong?
It's good that you realize that it's humans that are committing crimes, and not subhuman beings. But that doesn't excuse them nor should you.
Yes, Google has some level of responsibility here and they should be held accountable. But they're not the ones actually committing the crime.
>It's as if we went down to the local newstand and asked the grocer for a magazine on trucks. He gives us a bunch of magazines on boats, so -- we blame the magazine publishers!
This analogy would be more true to the situation at hand if you say that the magazine publishers are using methods that they know will increase their chances of getting boat magazines in front of your eyes when you're seeking truck magazines. Do you think my assertion is off-base?