Google, other search companies attempt to make search engines tell the truth

• According to that patent, Google is for the first time planning to rank news stories according to their accuracy and reliability as well as their topicality.
• Article continues Google, and its heavyweight competitors, are pouring billions of dollars and thousands of staff hours into trying to ensure that when you search on the internet, you receive not only exactly the information you want, but also information that is true.
• During the early days of the internet boom, it was predicted that search engines would gradually lessen in importance as users latched on to their favourite sites.
• But the opposite has proved true, with Google and its competitors becoming the way into the web for eight in 10 web users, according to Ask Jeeves.
• A Google spokeswoman said the company did not discuss individual patents but pointed out that its news service was "evolving all the time".
• But Jim Hedger, the search engine optimisation manager of Canadian company Stepforth, says that "Google is in the midst of sweeping changes to the way it operates".
• It is more of an institution, the ultimate public-private partnership."
• Charlene Li, a technology analyst from Forrester Research, said in a recent report that the search engine market was in a huge period of development and change.
• The company insists its only motive is to help users make sense of the morass of information on the web.
• But some worry about the cultural influence of everything being filtered through the Google lens, particularly if it emerges as the arbiter of "truth" on the web.
• Mr Sullivan said another dimension would be added to the debate once search technology started second guessing users' preferences by analysing their online activity and even their hard drives.