Blown To Bits Summary

Hal Abelson, Ken Ledeen, and Harry Lewis use their fourth chapter of their book Blown to Bits to discuss search engines. They describe how search engines work, and the possible problems that they could have. As was the case with the third chapter of Blown to Bits, I enjoyed reading this chapter. I felt that this chapter was not written to condemn technology, but rather to inform people about something that has become a vital element of human society. I was intrigued by the authors’ discussion of all of their topics. I have obviously used search engines for most of my life. Without search engines, every single formal lab paper that I have ever written for the BCAMSC would have been much harder to complete, since I would not have had access to recent, …show more content…
I often think that the United States does not really stand out as a “free country” anymore, since most developed countries give their citizens the same freedoms that our government gives us. After reading this chapter, I learned that this is not exactly the case. I was not surprised with the fact that China censors their citizens’ search results, but I was surprised to learn that the “Google bomb” that caused all people searching for an obscene term on a particular search engine to receive the Polish president’s information as a result was as serious as it was. I had no idea that insulting the president was a crime in Poland, and I almost could not believe that the perpetrator of the prank faced up to three years in prison for his actions. Ever since I can remember, I have heard people in school, at home, and everywhere else I have ever been insult various presidents of the United States. I cannot imagine living in this country without the right to freedom of speech and the press. I think it is ridiculous that there are still countries that do not guarantee this right to their