
UC Davis Wondered If $175,000 Would Make the Internet Go Away. Conclusion: No - tempestn
https://popehat.com/2016/04/14/uc-davis-wondered-if-175000-would-make-the-internet-go-away-conclusion-no/
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timthelion
What is really fucked up is this though: "After the Nevins & Associates
contract expired, the University hired in 2014 the Sacramento-based company ID
Media Partners in an $82,500 contract to “design and execute a comprehensive
search engine results management strategy" aimed at improving the reputation
of the University and Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi."[1]

So basically, they are using student tuition to promote a private person
(Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi).

[1] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UC_Davis_pepper-
spray_incident...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UC_Davis_pepper-
spray_incident#University_PR_response.3B_alleged_attempt_to_divert_web_searches)

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Roboprog
My daughter is a student at UCD. Chancellor Katehi has been the subject of
protest again this year, though without pepper spraying, I believe.
(apparently, these people can be taught a little bit)

Apparently, Katehi had a part time advisor job for about 4 years for $400 K
per year with a textbook publishing company... (wait for it!). And
preferentially selected said company's more expensive textbooks. For some
reason, some students were very unhappy about this apparent conflict of
interested which resulted in them / their parents getting soaked for books.
The administration has been displeased with the disorderliness of the
protestors, who have been very disruptive. (not 1960s disruptive, but you get
the idea)

Ultimately, Katehi resigned from the position at the publisher. I think she
agreed to donate some money to charity or some other token which didn't really
amount to a clawback.

Here's where my cynacism kicks in: if Katehi resigns, it's likely because the
rest of the mob threw her under the bus to prevent further investigation which
might ruin things for everybody. Otherwise, the students might be best served
by an explicit policy with teeth to prevent this kind of conflict of interest
in the future. Throwing out Katehi might well result in a round of "Meet the
new boss, same as the old boss", simply starting over (for the next student
class) where this one left off. So, ironically, I suppose it is a good sign
that Katehi has NOT been forced to resign.

Disclaimer: I am staff at the UC. That doesn't mean I can't see how things
frequently dysfunction at the highest levels of US govt and biz, though.

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Roboprog
Oh dear! Is this discussion affecting page-rank for keys such as "Chancellor
Katehi" "conflict of interest" "student protest"???

Life is hard.

~~~
wrong_variable
Wouldn't want google to pick up keywords such as Chancellor Katehi + conflict
of interest + student protest + pepper spray

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i_have_to_speak
Here's a meme:
[http://i.imgur.com/4WgaE5S.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/4WgaE5S.jpg)

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wlesieutre
Also got a lot of traction on r/photoshopbattles. Not the greatest work I've
seen on there, but many more comments than they typically get.

[https://www.reddit.com/r/photoshopbattles/comments/4f260e/ps...](https://www.reddit.com/r/photoshopbattles/comments/4f260e/psbattle_the_uc_davis_pepper_spray_incident_that/)

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tgb
This could be a matter of selection bias: who knows how many groups have
successfully hidden something for $175000? We'd never have heard about it.

~~~
gk1
This is a common service offered by SEO and marketing firms. Some are centered
entirely around the need to "polish" search results, like Reputation.com.

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tdaltonc
If the US had a EU style "right to be forgotten", could Chancellor Katehi use
it to make google forget about this?

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detaro
That stuff is pretty badly specified and has pretty random processes, but it
seems unlikely. Some speculation:

a) officials doing things in their official role generally have by default
"public interest" against them

b) She is still chancellor, making the public interest even argument stronger
and weakening her case. This is all still somewhat going on, not some
transgression in the past, which these rules mostly are about. And even in the
future, a few years after she has left

c) the university doesn't have the personality right, and the information who
has been chancellor at a specific time won't be generally removed. So even if
she would win a request to remove her name, it would be trivial for sites to
still make the connection, making the entire exercise pointless for her,
especially since I'd expect it to require a few court cases, triggering
Streisand to full effect again.

If some site published private data about her (where she lives, about her
family, ...) right to be forgotten might be used against these specific
instances.

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tellarin
I guess they never heard of the Streissand effect, huh?

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marze
I thought the previous article suggested that they spent several times that.

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chatmasta
Maybe changing the number is part of their strategy. ;-)

