“Google knows you: About search engines, privacy and how you can do better”
On January 15, 2024, Christine Plote – board member at osf – will give a lecture at das ottto in Neuburg. It will be about the search engine with the colorful letters and the consequences of a market power that is second to none.
65,000 search queries are made via Google every second, making it the most successful search engine worldwide for decades with a market share of around 83 percent. However, the company, founded in California in 1998, also offers other services and products, such as Google Maps, Google Classroom and YouTube. In September 2023, an antitrust case began in the USA against Alphabet, the parent company, with accusations of abusing its market power.
What consequences does such a situation have for us as a democratic society and as individuals? Christine Plote shows ways of escaping the “Google empire”, at least to some extent. She will also share about the ideas of the Open Search Foundation, whose aim it is to bring the Internet closer to the original idea of “a democratic and transparent” communication space.
Save the Date: January 15, 6.30 pm in the creative space das otto in Neuburg as well as online.
➡️ Click here to register for in person and online tickets: https://easyverein.com/public/DasOtto/calendar/180612648
About the otto – the creative space in Neuburg e.V.:
das Otto e.V. is a non-profit association that combines the topics of technology + education and offers many related events. More about the association: https://das-otto-neuburg.de/Unser-Ziel/index.php
It’s no secret that Google likes to collect data. But in the end, does Google know us better than we know ourselves? What do our search queries reveal about us? Is it possible to recreate a person’s life on the basis of online traces alone? And how manipulable does that make us?
The Made to measure project answers these questions in an oppressively concrete way. Using only the Google data of an anonymous data donor, the artist group Laokoon shows how, without magic and without AI, search queries become tangible information and a very personal profile.
The cross between data experiment, play, artistic research and journalistic investigation shows not only how much intimate data Google collects about us, but also how vulnerable and manipulable this can make us.
Interactive project website:
madetomeasure.online/en/Laokoon
Open Search Foundation e.V.
The Open Search Foundation e.V. is a European movement of people and organisations that work together to create the foundation for independent, free and self-determined access to information on the Internet. In cooperation with research institutions, computer centres and other partners, we’re committed to a searching the web in a way that benefits everyone. The promotion of research in the field of search engines, plus education and cooperation, form the pillars of our work.