PressEthic

How many times do you go to the second page when you do a Google search? Unless the search is vague, I must admit that I rarely get beyond the first page. I do not always have the patience to dig through a billion search results. Unless the information is absolutely crucial, I take what I can get from the first few websites.

I realize that this is a stupid way to get information. And, I am beginning to realize just how much a simple Google or Yahoo search influences my knowledge of a particular issue. As this Washington Post article shows, even the most basic search is an advertising scheme to sway your opinion.

Buried at the end of the article, after the CIA, secret prison, Dana Priest, Judy Miller, anonymous sources, leak, jail, special prosecutors, national security, civil liberties stuff – breath – you’ll find this:

The trial lawyers' lobby has a new technique for pressing its opposition to proposals that would reduce or eliminate liability for drug companies to manufacture vaccines.

Run a Google or Yahoo search for "bird flu" or "avian flu" and a sponsored link will pop up, leading to ads by a group called People Over Profits -- which is actually a unit of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America. They bear such headlines as "Bird Flu and Viagra: What do they have in common?" and "President Bush and Bird Flu: What Bush is not telling you." (The group also purchased the search term "Rafael Palmeiro," not because he has anything to do with the issue but because the ballplayer gets Googled a lot in the steroids controversy.)

Now even Web searchers aren't safe from lobbying! And since sponsors can monitor the traffic, says ATLA spokeswoman Chris Mather, "you can change your message during the day if it's not working."

Wow, someone call George Orwell.

Obviously Google and other search engines do not have the time to sort out search results based on their relevance, but allowing lobbyists to purchase top spots is a scary thing – especially considering most people do not get farther than that first page. But, that is the point, isn’t it? Paying for the prime spots on a search engine guarantees that people will see your information.

This is nothing new, and I certainly do not expect search engines to throw away this obviously lucrative system. I’m not that naïve. However, I wonder how many people are aware of the influence that a common search engine has on the way they understand an issue.