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TechnologyDaily Mobile
Search Engines Poised To Undergo Change
by Winter Casey
The search engine world is heading for a revolution and new search modes are expected to usher in new policy questions, according to industry experts.
Rather than a simple word search or an image search found via encrypted words, search engines of the future could offer queries for sounds files and human faces, for example.
Internet companies are anticipating this revolution and each is angling to lead the pack. Company alliances have been formed and money heavily invested in research with hopes of beating out the competition in this ever-changing Web environment.
Experts Anticipate Big Change
"Google is not the last search engine we are ever going to see in the world," said Clyde Wayne Crews of the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
No one is guaranteeing Google the lead, said Michael Wendy, CompTIA's policy counsel. All pieces of the future search are there or coming together to make rapid progression happen even faster, he said, adding that search engines are a "vigorously competitive market."
"A lot of upheaval" in this business can be expected, said Crews. Sonia Arrison of the Pacific Research Institute said search engines will be revolutionized and likely in the next five years.
"Nothing is invulnerable," said Crews. Search engines are going to have different protocols. Just think, a "few years ago most people were using AltaVista," said Crews. AltaVista now falls behind Google, Microsoft and Yahoo in popularity.
Dave McClure, president of the U.S. Internet Industry Association, said the state of current search can not remain because it "just is not good enough."
The Future Of The Search
Experts agree that within the next few years users can anticipate a vastly different Web searching experience.
The search engine as we know it will be revolutionized and "the need to serve Chinese consumers will have a lot to do with search engines retooling themselves," said Morgan Reed, a vice president at the Association for Competitive Technology.
These search engines could include sound and wave files, searches for movie images and potential for smells or touch, among others, said Wendy. Reed agreed that searches of video and sound files can be anticipated.
Experts said one day, search engine users might be able to sing a tune to a search engine to produce results.
"Search engines will reach a point where they can search by images not tied to text," said Reed. Search engines in the future could include sound sections run by a company with a legitimate licensing service such as Apple Computer's iTunes. It might offer consumers the option to buy and would alleviate intellectual property concerns, he said.
The search engine business environment provides real opportunities for "companies to play leap frog over existing search engine concepts like meta data and Roman text-based information," said Reed.
This transformation will take place because everything on the Internet is made up of math that has patterns and recognition, said Reed. If you can determine a way to write something that identifies the math involved you could search for anything, he said.
McClure said: "We are going to see a lot of refining work on number searches but is that the end game? I don't think so."
Image Searches To Come
Experts agree that it is only a matter of time before users are able to search for images rather than obtaining results using text-based image markers. Currently, Web filtering software used by schools works by blocking an image via its text description. Images require manual review, said Scott Garrison, vice president of sales and marketing at Lightspeed Systems.
This means that Web filters at schools, for example, can filter a picture of a naked person if the word "naked" is included in the image but not if it is simply an image by itself. At this time search engines only search text.
As new technologies enable searching by way of the image, filtering and blocking software will need to adapt to meet the challenge.
The present Web filtering systems which we rely on to protect children are not very effective, McClure said. "We need to find better ways."
Search engines are "still not intuitive and human. We want search engines that mimic the ability of the human brain," said McClure.
McClure expects future search engines to be very robust.
Searches are going to become more intelligent, working in real time and incorporating artificial intelligence into the code," Arrison said. Google is likely working on artificial intelligent searches, she said.
New Technologies Carry Policy Concerns
Wendy speculated on the possibility of searching for faces on the Internet and the potential privacy concerns that could arise by relating the image with personal identifying information.
"As things become more complicated, then demand from lawmakers will progress," Wendy said.
Arrison believes that policy concerns will only grow. "Search engines are really key to the information society," she said. Already many policy questions in terms of privacy, data retention, and government requests exist.
But McClure holds that "we have resolved most of the policy issues" related to search engines. Work has been accomplished on the appropriate balance of privacy and search rights, he said.
Companies Scramble For The Lead
At this time, companies have gotten on the bandwagon of online Web logs, or blogs, with search engines offering blog searches. Recently, InterActive's Ask.com announced a new blog search engine. Search engines also have moved to offer more financial data tools. Additionally, poultry experts have turned to Google Earth's satellite imager and maps to help combat a potential outbreak of avian flu.
Microsoft's co-founder and Chairman Bill Gates reportedly said last week that the company is waiting to heavily promote its Internet search service until it can offer a more competitive product to rival Google. Meanwhile, last month four technology giants -- Dell, eBay, Google and Yahoo -- announced alliances. China Mobile and Google have been in talks to launch an Internet search engine for cellular phone services in China. In South Korea, one of the world's most wired countries, experts have said Google has failed to make many advances.
U.S. Internet search giants, telecommunications companies and Internet service providers have been in the news lately for data retention issues related to the government. Search engines also have received attention for their compliance to foreign governments when operating in countries outside of the United States. Concerns arise when the companies follow policies deemed in the United States to be repressive, unethical and that support censorship.
Neither Google or Yahoo were able to comment on this story by press time.
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