Google Experiments On Humans

Over at the Google blog, Ambar Pansari, a Google product manager, and Marissa Mayer, VP of search products and user experience, admit that Google is experimenting on its users.

The two confess, "From time to time, we run live experiments on Google--tests visible to a relatively few people--to discover better ways to search. We do this because there's no good substitute for understanding how real people, in real-world situations, actually operate."Victims may see an enhanced results listing when googling for jobs (Craigslist beware). Or they may see navigational enhancements.

Perhaps the most intriguing part of this trial is that Google is testing the option to remove certain search results so that they no longer show up.

I predict it won't be long before spyware appears to exploit this new feature. Just think how many companies would pay to keep users from being able to google competitors.