Google and Facebook are able to influence the opinions of their users. That’s dangerous. By Sandro Gaycken Computer scientist
Sandro Gaycken was long active in the German hackers’ association, Chaos Computer Club. He now advises companies and institutions such as NATO on cybersecurity issues. The relationship between democracy and the Internet is turning sour. Both totalitarian and democratic nations are seeing an increase in online censorship and the mass surveillance of users. Disinformation and propaganda are perceptibly evolving into effective anti-democratic tools. A major new threat [to Internet freedom] currently attracting discussion is the Search Engine Manipulation Effect (SEME), … continue reading
