Video: Intel's bullshit filter exposes disputed information on the Internet

Intel’s researchers have figured out how to expose lies on the Internet. They’ve launched a tool dubbed Dispute Finder that lets you see highlighted text in a news story where the information is disputed. I call it a bullshit filter.

Working with researchers at the University of California at Berkeley, Intel Labs created an open source plug-in for the Firefox web browser that will automatically highlight text that other web users have reported as inaccurate or disputed information.

Intel researchers showed off the technology on Thursday at the Intel Research Day at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif. It was one of 45 R&D projects on display.

The Dispute Finder works like this. When you read a story where you think the information is false, you can highlight the snippet of text and report it as disputed. Then you or others can add information that shows arguments on both sides of the dispute. When other users read the story, they will see the highlighted text in dispute. They can click on it to see the arguments, and then vote up or down on what they believe is credible. They can also rate sources of information for accuracy. Of course, you have to weigh the opinions yourself. God forbid that a minority viewpoint that isn’t popular should actually prove to be the most accurate.

While I refer to this tool as a bullshit filter, Intel more politely refers to this as “confrontational computing.”

Check out our video with Robert Ennals of Intel.

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=5230599&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1

Intel’s bullshit filter exposes disputed web information from Dean Takahashi on Vimeo.

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