ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Eli Pariser - Organizer and author
Pioneering online organizer Eli Pariser is the author of "The Filter Bubble," about how personalized search might be narrowing our worldview.

Why you should listen

Shortly after the September 11, 2001, attacks, Eli Pariser created a website calling for a multilateral approach to fighting terrorism. In the following weeks, over half a million people from 192 countries signed on, and Pariser rather unexpectedly became an online organizer. The website merged with MoveOn.org in November 2001, and Pariser -- then 20 years old -- joined the group to direct its foreign policy campaigns. He led what the New York Times Magazine called the "mainstream arm of the peace movement" -- tripling MoveOn's member base and demonstrating how large numbers of small donations could be mobilized through online engagement.

In 2004, Pariser became executive director of MoveOn. Under his leadership, MoveOn.org Political Action has grown to 5 million members and raised over $120 million from millions of small donors to support advocacy campaigns and political candidates. Pariser focused MoveOn on online-to-offline organizing, developing phone-banking tools and precinct programs in 2004 and 2006 that laid the groundwork for Barack Obama's extraordinary web-powered campaign. In 2008, Pariser transitioned the Executive Director role at MoveOn to Justin Ruben and became President of MoveOn’s board; he's now a senior fellow at the Roosevelt Institute.

His book The Filter Bubble is set for release May 12, 2011. In it, he asks how modern search tools -- the filter by which many of see the wider world -- are getting better and better and screening the wider world from us, by returning only the search results it "thinks" we want to see.

More profile about the speaker
Eli Pariser | Speaker | TED.com
TED2011

Eli Pariser: Beware online "filter bubbles"

伊萊.帕理澤: 當心網路上的「過濾氣泡」

Filmed:
5,309,238 views

當網路公司正努力地將服務(包括新聞及搜索結果)根據我們的品味度身訂造,現在開始有不意想的後果:我們被困在一個「過瀘氣泡」,看不見一些或許讓我們能對世界擴闊視野的資訊。伊萊.帕理澤有力地爭論這種過濾最終會對我們及民主主義有負面影響。
- Organizer and author
Pioneering online organizer Eli Pariser is the author of "The Filter Bubble," about how personalized search might be narrowing our worldview. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:15
Mark標記 Zuckerberg扎克伯格,
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有位新聞工作者問馬克·祖克柏
00:17
a journalist記者 was asking him a question about the news新聞 feed飼料.
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一個關於動態消息的問题。
00:20
And the journalist記者 was asking him,
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那新聞工作者問他:
00:22
"Why is this so important重要?"
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「動態消息究竟為什麼重要?」
00:24
And Zuckerberg扎克伯格 said,
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馬克·祖克柏說:
00:26
"A squirrel松鼠 dying垂死 in your front面前 yard
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「一隻松鼠正死在你的前院,
00:28
may可能 be more relevant相應 to your interests利益 right now
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對你來說可能會比
00:31
than people dying垂死 in Africa非洲."
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非洲人正在死去更有關切性。」
00:34
And I want to talk about
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現在我想談論
00:36
what a Web捲筒紙 based基於 on that idea理念 of relevance關聯 might威力 look like.
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當網路基於「相關性」會是什麼樣子。
00:40
So when I was growing生長 up
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我在缅因州
00:42
in a really rural鄉村 area in Maine緬因州,
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極之郊區的環境長大,
00:44
the Internet互聯網 meant意味著 something very different不同 to me.
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網路的意義對我極之不同。
00:47
It meant意味著 a connection連接 to the world世界.
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它意味著與世界的連接。
00:49
It meant意味著 something that would connect us all together一起.
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它意味著與所有人的連接。
00:52
And I was sure that it was going to be great for democracy民主
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當時我非常肯定它會有助民主
00:55
and for our society社會.
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及會有助我們的社會。
00:58
But there's this shift轉移
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但現在網路上
01:00
in how information信息 is flowing流動 online線上,
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资料流動的形色漸漸地、
01:02
and it's invisible無形.
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無形地在轉移。
01:05
And if we don't pay工資 attention注意 to it,
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假若我們不留心注意,
01:07
it could be a real真實 problem問題.
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它可能會變成一個問题。
01:10
So I first noticed注意到 this in a place地點 I spend a lot of time --
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我在我經常流覽的地方
首先注意到這個問題,
01:13
my FacebookFacebook的 page.
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這個地方當然是我的臉書頁面。
01:15
I'm progressive進步, politically政治上 -- big surprise --
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可想而知,我對政治的態度是進步主義,
01:18
but I've always gone走了 out of my way to meet遇到 conservatives保守派.
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但我亦會叛經離道地結識保守主義者。
01:20
I like hearing聽力 what they're thinking思維 about;
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我喜歡知道他們在想什麼;
01:22
I like seeing眼看 what they link鏈接 to;
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我喜歡知道他們與什麼有聯繫;
01:24
I like learning學習 a thing or two.
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我喜歡能從中學到一些東西。
01:26
And so I was surprised詫異 when I noticed注意到 one day
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因此有一天我很駕訝當我察覺到
01:29
that the conservatives保守派 had disappeared消失 from my FacebookFacebook的 feed飼料.
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有關保守派主義的消息
從我臉書的動態消息消失。
01:33
And what it turned轉身 out was going on
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理由是因為
01:35
was that FacebookFacebook的 was looking at which哪一個 links鏈接 I clicked點擊 on,
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臉書能看見我按過哪些連結,
01:39
and it was noticing注意到 that, actually其實,
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它注意到
我其實按自由黨朋友的連結
01:41
I was clicking點擊 more on my liberal自由主義的 friends'朋友' links鏈接
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01:43
than on my conservative保守 friends'朋友' links鏈接.
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多過保守派朋友的連結。
01:46
And without consulting諮詢 me about it,
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在未與我商量過的情況下,
01:48
it had edited編輯 them out.
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它便編走那些連結。
01:50
They disappeared消失.
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那些消息全消失了。
01:54
So FacebookFacebook的 isn't the only place地點
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但不是淨只是臉書
01:56
that's doing this kind of invisible無形, algorithmic算法
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會做這種無形的、算法式的
01:58
editing編輯 of the Web捲筒紙.
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來編輯網路。
02:01
Google's谷歌的 doing it too.
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Google(谷歌)也會這樣。
02:03
If I search搜索 for something, and you search搜索 for something,
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若我在搜尋一樣東西,
你也在搜索一樣東西,
02:06
even right now at the very same相同 time,
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即使是在現在、同一個時間,
02:08
we may可能 get very different不同 search搜索 results結果.
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我們搜索的結果都會不同。
02:11
Even if you're logged記錄 out, one engineer工程師 told me,
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一個工程師曾告訴過我,
即使你登出帳戶,
02:14
there are 57 signals信號
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仍然有 57 個訊號
02:16
that Google谷歌 looks容貌 at --
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在被谷歌觀察著:
02:19
everything from what kind of computer電腦 you're on
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從你所用的電腦類型
02:22
to what kind of browser瀏覽器 you're using運用
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到你所用的瀏覽器
02:24
to where you're located位於 --
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甚至是你的所在位置,
02:26
that it uses使用 to personally親自 tailor裁縫 your query詢問 results結果.
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它會以這些來量身訂造你的搜尋結果。
02:29
Think about it for a second第二:
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試想一下:
02:31
there is no standard標準 Google谷歌 anymore.
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現在已經沒有標準的谷歌。
02:35
And you know, the funny滑稽 thing about this is that it's hard to see.
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而且,好笑的是,這很難察覺的。
02:38
You can't see how different不同 your search搜索 results結果 are
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你根本無法看到你的搜尋結果
02:40
from anyone任何人 else's別人的.
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會跟其他人的有所不同。
02:42
But a couple一對 of weeks ago,
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所以在兩個星期前,
02:44
I asked a bunch of friends朋友 to Google谷歌 "Egypt埃及"
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我請一些朋友用谷歌搜尋「埃及」,
02:47
and to send發送 me screen屏幕 shots鏡頭 of what they got.
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並且寄給我他們搜尋結果的螢幕截圖。
02:50
So here's這裡的 my friend朋友 Scott's斯科特的 screen屏幕 shot射擊.
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這張是我朋友史考特的截圖,
02:54
And here's這裡的 my friend朋友 Daniel's丹尼爾 screen屏幕 shot射擊.
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而這張是我朋友丹尼爾的截圖。
02:57
When you put them side-by-side並排側,
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當你將它們並排比較,
02:59
you don't even have to read the links鏈接
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你根本不用細看那些連結
03:01
to see how different不同 these two pages網頁 are.
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就可以看得出這兩頁是不一樣。
03:03
But when you do read the links鏈接,
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但當你細看這些連結,
03:05
it's really quite相當 remarkable卓越.
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這確實是蠻驚人的。
03:09
Daniel丹尼爾 didn't get anything about the protests抗議 in Egypt埃及 at all
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在丹尼爾的谷歌搜尋結果第一頁裡,
03:12
in his first page of Google谷歌 results結果.
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完全沒有關於埃及抗議的連結。
03:14
Scott's斯科特的 results結果 were full充分 of them.
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在史考特的搜尋結果就有很多。
03:16
And this was the big story故事 of the day at that time.
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但在那陣子卻是當日的大新聞。
03:18
That's how different不同 these results結果 are becoming變得.
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這就是搜尋結果越來越不同的例子。
03:21
So it's not just Google谷歌 and FacebookFacebook的 either.
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不只是谷歌及臉書。
03:24
This is something that's sweeping籠統的 the Web捲筒紙.
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這趨勢在網路正漸散播。
03:26
There are a whole整個 host主辦 of companies公司 that are doing this kind of personalization個性化.
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現有很多機構都實施個人化。
03:29
Yahoo雅虎 News新聞, the biggest最大 news新聞 site現場 on the Internet互聯網,
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雅虎新聞,網路上最大型的新聞網站,
03:32
is now personalized個性化 -- different不同 people get different不同 things.
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現在已經個人化,
即是不同人會看到不同的東西。
03:36
Huffington赫芬頓 Post崗位, the Washington華盛頓 Post崗位, the New York紐約 Times --
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哈芬登郵報、華盛頓郵報、紐約時報等等
03:39
all flirting調情 with personalization個性化 in various各個 ways方法.
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都正在用不同方式盤弄個人化。
03:42
And this moves移動 us very quickly很快
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這種趨勢正在快速地推我們
03:45
toward a world世界 in which哪一個
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前往一個新世界,
03:47
the Internet互聯網 is showing展示 us what it thinks we want to see,
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一個網路應為我們想看的世界,
03:51
but not necessarily一定 what we need to see.
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但未必是一個我們需要看到的世界。
03:54
As Eric埃里克 Schmidt施密特 said,
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正如艾立克·史密特所說:
「現在很難要人們觀看或消化一些
03:57
"It will be very hard for people to watch or consume消耗 something
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04:00
that has not in some sense
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一點兒也沒有替他們
04:02
been tailored量身定制 for them."
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量身訂造的東西。」
04:05
So I do think this is a problem問題.
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我認為這是一個問題,
04:07
And I think, if you take all of these filters過濾器 together一起,
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而且我想,如果將
全部的過濾器放在一起,
04:10
you take all these algorithms算法,
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用盡所有算法,
04:12
you get what I call a filter過濾 bubble泡沫.
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得到的是一個我稱為
「過濾氣泡」的東西。
04:16
And your filter過濾 bubble泡沫 is your own擁有 personal個人,
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而你的過濾氣泡便是你個人
04:19
unique獨特 universe宇宙 of information信息
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在網上存在的
04:21
that you live生活 in online線上.
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獨特資料宇宙。
04:23
And what's in your filter過濾 bubble泡沫
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你個人過濾氣泡的內容
04:26
depends依靠 on who you are, and it depends依靠 on what you do.
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基於你是誰和你的行為。
04:29
But the thing is that you don't decide決定 what gets得到 in.
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但問題是,氣泡的內容不是你可選擇。
04:33
And more importantly重要的,
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更重要的是,
04:35
you don't actually其實 see what gets得到 edited編輯 out.
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你完全看不到什麼被刪除。
04:38
So one of the problems問題 with the filter過濾 bubble泡沫
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過濾氣泡的其中一個問題
04:40
was discovered發現 by some researchers研究人員 at NetflixNetflix公司.
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被 Netflix 的研究員發現。
04:43
And they were looking at the NetflixNetflix公司 queues隊列, and they noticed注意到 something kind of funny滑稽
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當在察看 Netflix 的電影列表時,
他們發覺一樣有趣的現象,
04:46
that a lot of us probably大概 have noticed注意到,
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可能我們很多人亦有察覺到,
04:48
which哪一個 is there are some movies電影
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也就是,有些電影
04:50
that just sort分類 of zip壓縮 right up and out to our houses房屋.
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馬上就會被訂去看。
04:53
They enter輸入 the queue隊列, they just zip壓縮 right out.
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才剛入上架,就馬上被訂去看了。
04:56
So "Iron Man" zips拉鍊 right out,
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例如《鋼鐵人》很快就被看完,
04:58
and "Waiting等候 for Superman超人"
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但《等待超人》
05:00
can wait for a really long time.
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便真要等很久。
05:02
What they discovered發現
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他們發現
05:04
was that in our NetflixNetflix公司 queues隊列
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在我們 Netflix 的列表裡,
05:06
there's this epic史詩 struggle鬥爭 going on
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正在發生一個很巨型的鬥爭:
05:09
between之間 our future未來 aspirational抱負 selves自我
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我們未來的自我志向
05:12
and our more impulsive浮躁 present當下 selves自我.
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和現在較衝動的自我之間在拔河。
05:15
You know we all want to be someone有人
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我們全都想成為那個
05:17
who has watched看著 "Rashomon羅生門,"
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曾經看過《羅生門》的人,
05:19
but right now
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但現在
05:21
we want to watch "Ace高手 Ventura文圖拉" for the fourth第四 time.
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我們想看第四遍的《王牌威龍》。
05:24
(Laughter笑聲)
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(笑聲)
05:27
So the best最好 editing編輯 gives us a bit of both.
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所以其實最好的編輯
是每樣都給我們一些。
05:29
It gives us a little bit of Justin賈斯汀 Bieber比伯
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它會給我們一點小賈斯汀,
05:31
and a little bit of Afghanistan阿富汗.
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亦會給我們一些阿富汗。
05:33
It gives us some information信息 vegetables蔬菜;
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它會給我們一些像蔬菜一樣的重要資訊,
05:35
it gives us some information信息 dessert甜點.
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亦會給我們一些像甜點一樣的資訊。
05:38
And the challenge挑戰 with these kinds of algorithmic算法 filters過濾器,
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所以對這類算法式過濾和
05:40
these personalized個性化 filters過濾器,
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這些個人過濾的挑戰,
05:42
is that, because they're mainly主要 looking
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是因為,它們主要是看
05:44
at what you click點擊 on first,
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你首先按的是什麼連結,
05:48
it can throw off that balance平衡.
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這個方法會有阻平衡。
05:52
And instead代替 of a balanced均衡 information信息 diet飲食,
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你不但沒得到均衡的資訊菜單,
05:55
you can end結束 up surrounded包圍
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你可能會得到
05:57
by information信息 junk破爛 food餐飲.
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很多垃圾資訊。
05:59
What this suggests提示
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這個想法是在說
06:01
is actually其實 that we may可能 have the story故事 about the Internet互聯網 wrong錯誤.
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可能我們對網路的印象是不正確。
06:04
In a broadcast廣播 society社會 --
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在這個廣播社會,
06:06
this is how the founding創建 mythology神話 goes --
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根據流傳的說法,
06:08
in a broadcast廣播 society社會,
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在這個廣播社會,
06:10
there were these gatekeepers守門, the editors編者,
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有一些看門人,叫編輯者,
06:12
and they controlled受控 the flows流動 of information信息.
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他們控制資料的流通。
06:15
And along沿 came來了 the Internet互聯網 and it swept風靡 them out of the way,
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隨後登場便是網際網路,
它掃走這些看門人,
06:18
and it allowed允許 all of us to connect together一起,
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讓我們全部人可無阻地聯繫在一起,
06:20
and it was awesome真棒.
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這真是棒啊。
06:22
But that's not actually其實 what's happening事件 right now.
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但實在不是這樣。
06:26
What we're seeing眼看 is more of a passing通過 of the torch火炬
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我們看到的是像傳火炬,
06:29
from human人的 gatekeepers守門
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由人類看門人
06:31
to algorithmic算法 ones那些.
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到算法看門人。
06:34
And the thing is that the algorithms算法
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但現在這種算法程式
06:37
don't yet然而 have the kind of embedded嵌入式 ethics倫理
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還未有編輯人
06:40
that the editors編者 did.
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所擁有的嵌入概念。
06:43
So if algorithms算法 are going to curate策劃 the world世界 for us,
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所以若我們讓算法
用它的方式來看世界,
06:46
if they're going to decide決定 what we get to see and what we don't get to see,
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若讓它來決定我們
可看什麼、不可看什麼,
06:49
then we need to make sure
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那我們便要確定
06:51
that they're not just keyed鍵控 to relevance關聯.
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它的決定不只是基於關切性。
06:54
We need to make sure that they also show顯示 us things
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我們要確定它亦會給我們看一些
06:56
that are uncomfortable不舒服 or challenging具有挑戰性的 or important重要 --
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我們看了未必舒服,
但有重要性及有挑戰性的東西,
06:59
this is what TEDTED does --
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正如 TED 大會那樣
07:01
other points of view視圖.
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會展示其他觀點。
07:03
And the thing is, we've我們已經 actually其實 been here before
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其實像現在這種過濾
07:05
as a society社會.
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在以前的社會也發生過。
07:08
In 1915, it's not like newspapers報紙 were sweating出汗 a lot
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在 1915 年,
那時的報章對它們的民事責任
07:11
about their civic公民 responsibilities責任.
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不太在意。
07:14
Then people noticed注意到
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之後人們發覺到
07:16
that they were doing something really important重要.
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報章實在很重要。
因為事實上,
07:19
That, in fact事實, you couldn't不能 have
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一個正常運作的民主社會是不存在的,
07:21
a functioning功能 democracy民主
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07:23
if citizens公民 didn't get a good flow of information信息,
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除非人民能獲得有效的資訊流通。
07:28
that the newspapers報紙 were critical危急 because they were acting演戲 as the filter過濾,
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所以報章對事有評論,
因為它們扮演過濾網,
07:31
and then journalistic新聞 ethics倫理 developed發達.
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也因此才有新聞道德的構成。
07:33
It wasn't perfect完善,
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雖然不是完美,
07:35
but it got us through通過 the last century世紀.
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但這種方式帶我們走過上一個世紀。
07:38
And so now,
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現在,
07:40
we're kind of back in 1915 on the Web捲筒紙.
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在網上我們又像回到 1915 年。
07:44
And we need the new gatekeepers守門
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我們需要新的看門人
07:47
to encode編碼 that kind of responsibility責任
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將道德責任
07:49
into the code that they're writing寫作.
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輸入它們算法的程式裡。
07:51
I know that there are a lot of people here from FacebookFacebook的 and from Google谷歌 --
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我知道在座很多人替臉書及谷歌工作,
07:54
Larry拉里 and Sergey謝爾蓋 --
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像賴利和塞吉,
07:56
people who have helped幫助 build建立 the Web捲筒紙 as it is,
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很多人參與建立現今的網際網路,
07:58
and I'm grateful感激 for that.
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我對此很感謝。
08:00
But we really need you to make sure
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但我們真的需要你們確保
08:03
that these algorithms算法 have encoded編碼 in them
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這些算法的程式裡
08:06
a sense of the public上市 life, a sense of civic公民 responsibility責任.
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要有公眾生活和民事責任感。
08:09
We need you to make sure that they're transparent透明 enough足夠
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我們需要你們確保
它有一定的透明度,
08:12
that we can see what the rules規則 are
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讓我們能知道是用什麼準則
08:14
that determine確定 what gets得到 through通過 our filters過濾器.
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來決定什麼可通過過濾網。
08:17
And we need you to give us some control控制
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而且我們需要你們
給予一些控制力,
08:19
so that we can decide決定
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讓我們可以選擇
08:21
what gets得到 through通過 and what doesn't.
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什麼能通過和不通過。
08:24
Because I think
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因為我認為
08:26
we really need the Internet互聯網 to be that thing
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我們真的需要網路
08:28
that we all dreamed夢見 of it being存在.
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成為一個我們夢寐以求的平臺。
08:30
We need it to connect us all together一起.
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我們需要它連結所有人。
08:33
We need it to introduce介紹 us to new ideas思路
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我們需要它給我們介紹新的想法、
08:36
and new people and different不同 perspectives觀點.
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新的人和不同觀點。
08:40
And it's not going to do that
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而它是不可能辦到這些,
08:42
if it leaves樹葉 us all isolated孤立 in a Web捲筒紙 of one.
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如果它將我們孤立在
唯一自我旳網路裡就絕不可能。
08:45
Thank you.
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謝謝。
08:47
(Applause掌聲)
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(鼓掌)
Translated by Ana Choi
Reviewed by Felix Leung

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Eli Pariser - Organizer and author
Pioneering online organizer Eli Pariser is the author of "The Filter Bubble," about how personalized search might be narrowing our worldview.

Why you should listen

Shortly after the September 11, 2001, attacks, Eli Pariser created a website calling for a multilateral approach to fighting terrorism. In the following weeks, over half a million people from 192 countries signed on, and Pariser rather unexpectedly became an online organizer. The website merged with MoveOn.org in November 2001, and Pariser -- then 20 years old -- joined the group to direct its foreign policy campaigns. He led what the New York Times Magazine called the "mainstream arm of the peace movement" -- tripling MoveOn's member base and demonstrating how large numbers of small donations could be mobilized through online engagement.

In 2004, Pariser became executive director of MoveOn. Under his leadership, MoveOn.org Political Action has grown to 5 million members and raised over $120 million from millions of small donors to support advocacy campaigns and political candidates. Pariser focused MoveOn on online-to-offline organizing, developing phone-banking tools and precinct programs in 2004 and 2006 that laid the groundwork for Barack Obama's extraordinary web-powered campaign. In 2008, Pariser transitioned the Executive Director role at MoveOn to Justin Ruben and became President of MoveOn’s board; he's now a senior fellow at the Roosevelt Institute.

His book The Filter Bubble is set for release May 12, 2011. In it, he asks how modern search tools -- the filter by which many of see the wider world -- are getting better and better and screening the wider world from us, by returning only the search results it "thinks" we want to see.

More profile about the speaker
Eli Pariser | Speaker | TED.com