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p2pnet news | Products:- First, the Wikipedia. Next, the Net?
“When Powerset, a widely hyped new search engine, launches today, few people are going to view it as a real competitor to Google,” states the Mercury News, going on
“Despite a year’s worth of flattering articles in publications like the New York Times and BusinessWeek about the company’s potential as a Google killer, Powerset won’t actually search the Internet. It won’t even search a subsection of the Internet.
“Instead, it will try to demonstrate the potency of its natural-language search technology by focusing on Wikipedia and Freebase, an open database. Executives are hoping the modest nature of the debut won’t dissuade people from trying out what they see as the future of information retrieval.”
It doesn’t, at this point, pretend to be able to search the Net, but it isn’t modest about what it ultimately hopes to achieve.
Its goal is to, “change the way people interact with technology by enabling computers to understand our language,” it states, going on:
“Powerset is first applying its natural language processing to search, aiming to improve the way we find information by unlocking the meaning encoded in ordinary human language.”
Its first effort is a “search and discovery experience” for Wikipedia.
You enter keywords, phrases, or even simple questions, into the search box and Powerset, “gives more accurate results, often answering questions directly, and aggregates information from across multiple articles”.
“What is online freedom of speech?” - we asked it.
It produced 34,196 answers, the first six being:
- Freedom of speech in the United States
In a rare 9-0 decision, the Supreme Court extended the full protection of the First Amendment to the Internet in Reno v. ACLU, a decision which struck down portions of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, a law intended to outlaw so-called “indecent” online communication (that is, nonobscene material protected by the First Amendment.) … Freedom of speech - Freedom of speech versus blasphemy
Freedom of speech … ? Five arrested over London cartoons protest - Britain - Times Online - International reactions to the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy
(I am) Glad there is freedom of speech here. … ? “Murder of priest ‘religious revenge’”, Independent Online, February 8, 2006. - Freedom of the press
Freedom of speech … | Newspapers Magazines News agencies Broadcast journalism Online journalism Photojournalism Alternative media | - Timeline of the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy
Placard slogans include ” Freedom of speech equals respect” and “Tolerance, not distance”. [16] … ? “Murder of priest ‘religious revenge’”, Independent Online, 2006-02-08. - Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy
Freedom of speech versus blasphemy … ? “70,000 gather for violent Pakistan cartoons protest”, Times Online, 2006-02-15.
We asked the same question of the Wikipedia and got 1,412 results:
- Freedom of speech in the United States
… ths to harm others ([[slander]]). Distinctions are also often made between speech and other acts, such as [[flag desecration]], which may have symbolic sign … == Historical background ==
15 KB (2290 words) - 14:22, 6 May 2008 - Academic freedom
… dom by ensuring that teachers can be fired only for causes such as gross professional incompetence or behavior that evokes condemnation from the academi … ==The rationale for academic freedom==
23 KB (3438 words) - 00:07, 3 May 2008 - Freedom of the press
”{{Freedom}} … onstitution]]al or [[Statute|statutory]] protections pertaining to freedom of the press.
27 KB (3972 words) - 12:52, 8 May 2008 - Freedom House
|name = Freedom House |image = Freedom House logo.svg
35 KB (5117 words) - 06:01, 7 May 2008 - Freedom of thought
{{Freedom}} … nts. It is closely related to, yet distinct from, the concept of [[freedom of expression]].
14 KB (2090 words) - 16:55, 8 May 2008 - Online identity
… entify themselves by means of [[pseudonym]]s, which reveal varying amounts of [[personally identifiable information]]. … [reputation]], which enables them to decide whether the identity is worthy of [[Trust (sociology)|trust]].
26 KB (4095 words) - 13:57, 3 May 2008
Interesting.
.
.Stumble It!
Mercury News - Will Powerset search engine speak your language?, May 12, 2008
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May 12th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
Freedom of speech should not be an excuse to encroach on the rights of others. We all have rights as well, and if people abuse our rights we naturally become offended, and the offense may even rightly be termed illegal.
Does someone have the right to slander another online? Not really. What if true? Still, no. What if the public should be aware? If that were true it would be the responsibility of the relevant authorities to decide.
May 13th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
People often say things that offend others, without intending to. Comedy is almost always offensive to someone, without intention.
Freedom of Speech is important to protect the freedom of people to express themselves without worrying about consequences for unintentional offense.
The one that stands out in my mind is the cartoons of Mohammed, which I believe ARE designed to offend. While I have mixed views about this, we must be allowed the freedom to express religious and political views, and people WILL be offended. Most can shrug it off, but it seems that the cartoons of Mohammed in particular motivate the extreme followers of that religion to use terrorist attacks to exterminate those that offend them. They seem to think they have a “God given right” to exterminate anyone that doesn’t follow their religion, which I believe is dangerous.
I believe in Christianity, but I don’t believe in shoving my beliefs in anyones face, or holding them to biblical standards. If they are interested, they will ask, otherwise, I focus on trying to treat those around me with as much more respect than my gut tells me to. It’s not easy.
I see offensive material aimed at Christianity often, but I feel that people’s freedom to express what they believe is as sacred as what I believe, and “I’ll fight to the death, for your right to say it”
Slander is completely different in that it is making false claims about a person’s character or life. That is, and always should be, illegal.