Google Could Do Massive Pump and Dump

September 16th, 2011
google, ideas, stocks
Imagine google were to:
  1. Preferentially display bad news about a company
  2. Buy a lot of their stock
  3. Preferentially display good news about them
  4. Sell stock

They could do this for a large number of companies at once. And randomize it so it wasn't obvious to others. This would be a variant of pump and dump. I don't know if it would be illegal, though it would definitely hurt them if it got out they were doing it.

Mostly this shows how vulnerable we are in treating google as the source for the relative importance of pages on a given topic.

Comment via: google plus, facebook

Recent posts on blogs I like:

Weird Nerd Moralism

Let's talk about Nietzsche without having read him!

via Thing of Things November 29, 2024

Developing the middle ground on polarized topics

Avoiding false dichotomies The post Developing the middle ground on polarized topics appeared first on Otherwise.

via Otherwise November 25, 2024

How to eat vegan on Icon of the Seas

Royal Caribbean has a new giant cruise ship, Icon of the Seas, which has a large selection of food options.

via Home November 21, 2024

more     (via openring)