Page:Untangling the Web.pdf/25

 need. That's fine for personal searches, but it does not help the searcher who is using the Internet for work-related, academic, or other types of research.

The future of search seems to be in fewer but more experienced and more commercially driven hands now than a decade ago. Certainly both the quantity and quality of search results are much better today. And there are other trends in search that are going to have a major impact on users, love them or hate them. Among these are greater personalization of search, an area in which Google, Yahoo, and Live Search are all vying for your attention. Then there is the concept of social networking, through which Internet users with similar interests share their web knowledge and experience. Social bookmarking sites such as or  and sharing software such as  are growing in popularity as individual users seek ways to help each other discover and propagate information.

There has also been a strong impetus towards more localized search for shopping, news, map directions, services, telephone lookups, and more. Yahoo initially outpaced Google in this area because it already owns an enormous warehouse of information about where its users live and work, shop and play. However, Google, Yahoo, Ask, and Live Search all moved strongly into the local and personalized search arena during 2006. Add to the mix all the other services search companies offer or plan to offer, such as Google's much ballyhooed and controversial foray into email with. The move toward greater personalization (likes and dislikes/interests/shopping/travel) and more services (especially email and tailored news) brings. The more Yahoo, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, et al. know about us, the more they can serve up what we want.

But the more they know, the less control we have over our privacy and computer security. I am reminded of a scene from the film Minority Report in which the main character walks into a clothing store and, after his eye scan, the computer welcomes him by name, asks if he was happy with his previous purchase (which it details) and what he would like now. It doesn't take a lot of imagination to see how this technology can be abused. Everyone wants convenience but it is a virtual axiom of technology that every increase in convenience brings with it some decrease in privacy and, most likely, security. Now more than ever, the future of search is one that appears to be heading towards more personalization, more features, more options and, inevitably it seems, less privacy, less security, and fewer companies with the will, technological know-how, and financial resources to build and maintain search engines. Rh