Algorithms of Oppression

Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism is a 2018 book by Safiya Umoja Noble in the fields of information science, machine learning, and human-computer interaction. Chapter 1 explores how Google search's auto suggestion feature is demoralizing, drawing on example searches for terms like "black girls" (which returned pornography) and "Jew" (which returned anti-Semitic pages). Noble coins the term algorithmic oppression to describe data failures specific to people of color, women, and other marginalized groups. She discusses how Google could use human curation to eliminate slurs or inappropriate images from the first page of results, and criticizes Google's policy that unless pages are unlawful, Google will allow its algorithm to act without human curation. She identifies AdWords as a hypocritical use of curation to appeal to commercial interests, since it allows advertisers to pay for controversial or less-relevant topics to appear above the algorithm's selections. Chapter 2 examines Google's claims that they are not responsible for the content of search results, instead blaming the content creators and searchers. Noble highlights aspects of the algorithm which normalize whiteness and men. She argues that Google hides behind its algorithm, while reinforcing social inequalities and stereotypes for Black, Latina, and Asian women. Chapter 3 discusses how Google's search engine combines multiple sources to create threatening narratives about minorities. She explains a case study where she searched "black on white crimes" on Google. Noble highlights that the sources and information that were found after the search pointed to conservative sources that skewed information. These sources displayed racist and anti-black information from white supremacist sources. Ultimately, she believes this readily-available, false information fueled the actions of white supremacist Dylann Roof, who committed a massacre. Chapter 4 examines examples of women being shamed due to their activity in the porn industry, regardless of whether it was consensual or not. She critiques the internet's ability to influence one's future and compares U.S. privacy laws to those of the European Union, which provides citizens with "the right to forget or be forgotten." She argues that these breaches of privacy disproportionately affect women and people of color. Chapter 5 moves away from Google and onto other information sources deemed credible and neutral. Noble says that prominent libraries, including the Library of Congress, reinforce hegemonies such as whiteness, heteronormativity, and patriarchy. As an example, she discusses a two-year effort to change the Library of Congress's catalog terminology from "illegal aliens" to "noncitizen" or "unauthorised immigrants." Noble argues all digital search engines reinforce discriminatory biases, highlighting how interconnected technology and society are. Chapter 6 discusses possible solutions for the problem of algorithmic bias. Sh