Data spies: The dark and shady practices of Silicon Valley

This is how data harvesting really works. You're not going to like it.

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  • In this absorbing talk spanning the last 20 years of tech, Roger McNamee starts at the origins of the PayPal Mafia (which included entrepreneurs like Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and Reid Hoffman) and traces them to Silicon Valley's global domination.
  • Data is used by online vendors in all industries to make behavioral predictions for profit – often in unethical or cloaked ways.
  • Did we sign up for this? Roger McNamee calls for a halt to blind participation and asks for a national debate on whether commerce based on personal data (but not for personal benefit) should be legal.
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Videos

This is how we might explore the internet after Google

Can algorithms use collective knowledge to make us all internet explorers?

Photo credit: Amanda Tipton via Flickr
  • Google has come under scrutiny lately for its dominance over the flow of information on the internet.
  • TagTheWeb is researching a method to allow the "wisdom of the crowd" to categorize the internet more effectively.
  • With or without Google, the internet looks to change significantly in the future, in ways we may not be ready for.
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Technology & Innovation

There's a secret adventure game hidden in Google Search. Here’s how to play.

Easter eggs have been hidden in video games since Atari's Adventure; now Google search has hidden an entire adventure game.

  • A Reddit user discovered a hidden adventure game buried in Google search's development console.
  • The adventure game is the latest in a long list of Google Easter eggs and oddities dedicated to video games and pop culture.
  • Have some time to kill today? Read here to learn how to access this Internet gem.
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Technology & Innovation