A quick reading of your post suggests that there is some reason to dismiss Prof. Sweeney's findings as discussed in the posted article (massive correction, easily misinterpreted, etc.) However, this is not the case. It is very clear from OP that unless Prof. Sweeney has falsified her data or described the findings incorrectly - something you have managed to imply deniably without actually showing it - the site is in fact targeting the 'arrest' variant of the ads at queries with black names in them.
Read danso's post again, the problem isn't with Prof. Sweeney's research, the problem is with the Reuters story that jumped the gun and came to a conclusion that Sweeney hadn't. As a result, the correction note was attached to the Reuters article not Sweeney's research.
(I had the same reaction you did when first reading the post, but when I re-read it, I realized what it was saying. The post could have been clearer though.)
I can see why you'd infer that from my wording, but FWIW, I'm not intending to imply anything against Prof. Sweeney's work as I've not yet read the actual study. I was posting what I had found when trying the searches myself; for some reason, Google isn't serving me any ads...and Reuters served me what I had posted above.
If anything, this post is directed at commenters who have reflexively dismissed the study because they dislike the OP's summation. Just because the article summarizing the study may jump to a contentious conclusion does not mean that the study itself did. The fact that Reuters apparently messed up here is just an example of how a study with possible controversial implications can be misread by someone trying to write about it.
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A quick reading of your post suggests that there is some reason to dismiss Prof. Sweeney's findings as discussed in the posted article (massive correction, easily misinterpreted, etc.) However, this is not the case. It is very clear from OP that unless Prof. Sweeney has falsified her data or described the findings incorrectly - something you have managed to imply deniably without actually showing it - the site is in fact targeting the 'arrest' variant of the ads at queries with black names in them.
Read danso's post again, the problem isn't with Prof. Sweeney's research, the problem is with the Reuters story that jumped the gun and came to a conclusion that Sweeney hadn't. As a result, the correction note was attached to the Reuters article not Sweeney's research.
(I had the same reaction you did when first reading the post, but when I re-read it, I realized what it was saying. The post could have been clearer though.)
I can see why you'd infer that from my wording, but FWIW, I'm not intending to imply anything against Prof. Sweeney's work as I've not yet read the actual study. I was posting what I had found when trying the searches myself; for some reason, Google isn't serving me any ads...and Reuters served me what I had posted above.
If anything, this post is directed at commenters who have reflexively dismissed the study because they dislike the OP's summation. Just because the article summarizing the study may jump to a contentious conclusion does not mean that the study itself did. The fact that Reuters apparently messed up here is just an example of how a study with possible controversial implications can be misread by someone trying to write about it.