Changes to the Google search engine will have Internet users receiving “facts” and tips from sources like the CIA World Factbook, Wikipedia and the World Bank along with search results.
The new feature, called Knowledge Graph, takes a step away from the traditional search engine practice of matching keywords. Instead, the new feature will draw information from places like Wikipedia for historical information, CIA World Factbook for geopolitical answers and the World Bank for economic facts. Another Google-owned company called Freebase will provide information about people and other predetermined sources.
Activist Post reports:
This move by Google seems eerily similar to Orwell’s Ministry of Truth in that search results, or “answers and facts”, will no longer be gathered based on the algorithmic popularity of content, but rather selected by Google.
Sure, most would argue that Wikipedia does a pretty good job through its open-source format to nail down basic facts. However, the CIA and the World Bank are organizations with agendas sometimes counter to the truth, and making them the authority on facts gives them tremendous power to shape public knowledge.
Here is Google’s explanation of how it intends to shape information: