Advances in algorithms are constantly recording your Internet activity and making choices that determine the content sent to you, without consulting you.

In the TED conference “Beware online “filter bubbles””, Eli Pariser explains why this is a big problem:

TED (standing for Technology Entertainment and Design), is “a global set of conferences” committed to their slogan; “ideas worth spreading”. It is well known for having extremely knowledgeable and successful speakers address crowds for a maximum of 18 minutes with the general theme (in my view), being progress.

Crucial Quotes:

“We really need to make sure that these algorithms have encoded in them, a sense of the public life; a sense of civic responsibility. That they’re transparent enough that we can see what the rules are that determine what gets through our filters. And we need you to give us some control, so that we can decide what gets through and what doesn’t.”

“We really need the internet to be that thing that we all dreamed of it being, we need it to connect us all together. We need it to introduce us to new ideas, and new people and different perspectives”

According to Wikipedia, TED is consistently growing in popularity with “the viewing figure…at more than 500 million”, in June 2011.