The Internet is a fairly new means of information AND communication – no matter the Supreme Court’s ruling on Brand X.

For some years now, we have been enjoying the benefits of the new digital age: a colossal amount of information at the tip of our finger tips – literally; we now stay in touch with friends that we otherwise would not have the time to connect with; the traditional media gatekeepers seem to have become irrelevant now that everyone can have their own blog.

As the Internet has become an integral part of our lives, its imperfections are finally revealing themselves – as you know by now, the one that causes me most concern is the lack of privacy protections.  Eli Pariser,  of MoveOn.org,  brings up a new important issue – what he calls “the filter bubble.”

The filter bubble consists of algorithms used by Google, Facebook and others to personalize searches.  Based on what Big Brother knows about you, the algorithms select the results that it thinks best suits you.  Yahoo! News, for example, personalizes your news.  You will unlikely get the same news results as your colleagues at work.  Facebook thinks it knows who your favorite friends are, and those are the friends’ updates you will see on the News Feed.  Big Brother is not only watching, it’s making content decisions for you.  It turns out that the Internet my have gotten rid of the traditional media gatekeepers, but now there is another type of gatekeeper deciding for you what news you should read, what friends you should read about.  Homogeneous thinking is the goal in this new search system, difference of opinion is frowned upon.

Some may not be bothered by the personalized results, the problem is that most people don’t event know this is taking place.  Pariser states that the fact that the filter bubble is invisible to users and that you don’t get to choose it should be major causes of concern.  He also states that this is the time to address these issues “before the bones are set in this media framework.”  The fact that Google, Facebook and others want to provide the most relevant search to its users is commendable, however, there needs to be a code of ethics or best practices that the Internet companies should follow.  Transparency and users’ right to choose is vital.