Algorithms of Oppression - Intro and Chapter 1 outline PDF PDF

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Baez, 1

Emmitt Baez Dr. Roschelle Race, Class & Gender 5 Nov. 2018 Outline 1 and 2 (Intro and Chapter I) “Introduction: The Power of Algorithms.” Pp. 1-14 in Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism. -

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The book is about power of algorithms in the age of neoliberalism and the way those digital decisions reinforce oppressive social relationships and enact new modes of racial profiling - Technological redlining Redlining used by banks and real estate to continue inequality gap between people of color - Ex: paying higher premiums because of skin color… IMPORTANT MENTION: Artificial technology is being coded to discriminate - Something humans rely on a lot to solve a lot of things

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KEY POINT: automated decision making through algorithms are bringing more issues

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The people who make this decision making algorithms have their own views which openly promote racism, sexism, and false notions of society. - People don't understand this and believe the machinery and technology are how they are because it is natural… no people actually control these technologies This was documented in studies of Silicon Valley which is a technological haven in Cali

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Human being that are suppose to be creating neutral decision tools, are openly putting their views of bigotry and discrimination open for everyone to see and most importantly be persuaded to view other viewpoints

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Good point: Technological monopolies like google and facebook must be disbanded because there are serious implications for people who are marginalized in society. This info is being used to further oppress us in ways we cannot understand

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When she (the author) searched “black girls” and “HotBlackP***sy” popped up as number one hit

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ALGORITHMIC OPPRESSION: the internet is racist - Which proves a corporate logic of willful neglect - ! - google search is a marketing company

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White house - n*gga house google search, - Michelle “Ape” Obama google search results - You can still see the issues from back then with google search and maps - At the end of the day, they’ll always say “we will fix it as soon as possible and it is not our fault” - Google is the one teaching AI, from human intelligence, to be racist or already pick up racist tendencies in searches and glorify them …

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This book will show that there is much more to be looked up, in terms of google’s racist search engine and those who use it for wrongful reasons. - If more people was to look at this an issue, which it is, the issue can be solved faster - Google is continuing the oppression that people of color have been fighting for so long against Breakdown of chapters on what they will go over CHAPTER 1: exploring the important theme of corporate control over public information CHAPTER 2: how google search reinforces stereotypes and makes profit from racism and sexism CHAPTER 3: examines the importance of non commercial search engines and information protocols a deeper look into Dylan Roof use of google search before he took out those 9 church members in South Carolina CHAPTER 4: dedicated to critiquing the field of information studies and foregrounds how these issues of public information through classification projects on the web are old problems that we must solve. CHAPTER 5: discusses the future of knowledge in the public and reference the work of library and information professionals, as important to the development and cultivation of equitable classification systems, since they are precursors to commercial search engines. CONCLUSION: moves the discussion beyond google, to help readers think about the impact of algorithms on how people are represented in other seemingly benign business transactions

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Baez, 3

“A Society, Searching.” Pp.15- 63 in Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism. -

UN’s campaign using google searches with basic terms to show how women are regarded in sexist and discriminatory ways - THE CAMPAIGN: suggest the google search results are a mirror of users beliefs and that society still holds a variety of sexist ideas about women. - The campaign proves that people, generally those who are misrepresented, do not know how these google search results get to be - They have to be taught, that someone actually controls those results and have influence on what a majority of the population can have access to..

Google Search: Racism and Sexism at the Forefront - Google search results of black girls, circa 2011, 2012, revealed pornographic images of black women - Treating black women as sexual commodities and existing in a place where is easily accessible to young children, and by simply inputting simple search terms - Monopolies like google can prioritize web search results on basis of variety of topics, such as promoting their own business interest over smaller companies (p. 24) - Because of our constant use of search engines, we now believe they are always a source of credible source… How do you really know what you know…? - The population, to understand how search engines work, would have to have a high understanding of computer programming to understand the output of searches - Most of these search engines are private so even at THAT, regular people could not intervene because of private matters… private does not always mean it is legal… - Women and people of color can benefit from learning computer programming to understand searches more - AI technology can learn to be racist and have ideas full of bigotry - I.E the sentencing software Northpointe (p. 27) - Miscalculated future risk and wrongfully incarcerated people for longer times…. - It predicted white criminals won’t commit crime again… - White skin color can be forgiven. But not black? - What happens when people put things in the hands of AI. -

Needs more studies to be done to see the negative effects Google has on people of color

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Important questions? Who do we complain to? Who has power over AI? What national or international courts do you bring these issues to?

Theorizing Search: A Black Feminist Project - Raising awareness of intersectionality will allow there to be conversation and lead to the more understanding of the problems that new technology poses - Information assumed to be fact, exists because of racist ideals….

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Use of big data to maintain social relationships serve a powerful role in maintaining racial and gender subjugation - DEHUMANIZATION is being rendered a free market for everyone to participate in

Black Feminism as Theoretical and Methodological Approach - Black women’s representations in Google’s ranking is normalzied by virtue of their placement, making it easier for people to think what is on the page is true because it pops out first.. → this is spreading false ideas on a marginalized group of people, black women - Still need an explanation on why porn and graphic content came out when the words “black girls” were searched through google.. - The words porn was not used at all and still came out in the results - This strips the black woman of everything and strictly relates their body and life to sexual acts - Bell Hook’s has written extensively on the ways that neoliberal capitalism is explicitly implicated in misrepresentations and hypersexualization of black women. The Importance of Google - Google has access to the collection and provision of data across a variety of platform in highly unregulated marketplace! (Is this even morally right?) - Search engines are just as important as email to internet users - Over 60 mil americans engage in search - Google cares about prioritizing search results for business partners Search Results as Power - Search results reflect the values and norms of the search company’s commerical partners and advertisers and often reflect our lowest and most demeaning beliefs.. (p. 35) - Labertainment - people giving up their info and labor for Google’s profit - Users use very few words when using search engines - Most search results are linked to advertising, that show demeaning images of people and our bias views - The word “jew” yielded nasty responses and google responded explaining why that was the case - Citations used as a model to deem what is credible or not - Brin and Page’s outline to search engine, scary how true they came to be - Consumers are not worried about enough - Author offers a solution: WE NEED LEGAL PROTECTION NOW! Gaming the System: Optimizing and Co-Opting Results in Search Engines - Google has a advertising tool that also optimizes user experiences (Adwork) - Allows ads on search pages of google - Google will promote advertisements on search pages based on relevancy - Won’t promote what is the most searched…

Baez, 5

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Hyperlinking to websites to make pages go on top of PageRank is referred to as Google Bombing Search Engine Optimization - Major findability factor - Marketers and their evil use of it make it a multibillion dollar industry Widespread belief that the internet is a dem. Space - Able to choose what you buy and want freely Google can shape political viewpoints by directing web traffic to certain news articles

The Enclosure of the Public Domain through Search Engines - US Internet users primarily use search engines to retrieve information - Libraries and other info institutions are not getting as much funding - Now it is up to the people to educate each other - Private influence causes public confusion on how to access info The Cultural Power of Algorithms - Not that many individuals understand the power that algorithm shifts have on culture - Individuals more inclined to change online behavior because of government surveillance - Google allow users to personalize their account, but for purposes of categorizing and seeing which consumers go with which ads. Losing Control of Our Images and Ourselves in Search - Urban League and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) fight against minority misrepresentation - More orgs like Free Press should exist to raise awareness on the misrepresentations of colored people Bias in Search - Sites are blocked by google if it is a competitor - People get paid to sit through potentially dangerous material online and get hired by facebook and youtube - A lot of money is made from racism on the internet Challenging Race- and Gender-Neutral Narratives - The internet is thought of to be more male dominated - Females are constantly marginalized (men as well) more often - Porn is a huge factor in the marginalization of women on the internet - Black women and latina are more represented in porn than white woman are... Challenging Cybertopias - We must challenge the commercial search and protect identities of those who are oppressed and misrepresented by the internet - Now people are questioning if the internet can really free us *good question - Reminder that what appears on top of search sites is not always popular...