An in depth conversation with Eli Pariser, author and board president of MoveOn.org about his groundbreaking book investigating the rise of personalization on the web, The Filter Bubble. Pariser discusses how this growing trend threatens to control how we consume and share information as a society-and reveals what we can do about it.

About "The Filter Bubble"

In December 2009, Google began customizing its search results for each user. Instead of giving you the most broadly popular result, Google now tries to predict what you are most likely to click on. According to MoveOn.org board president Eli Pariser, Google's change in policy is symptomatic of the most significant shift to take place on the Web in recent years-the rise of personalization. In this groundbreaking investigation of the new hidden Web, Pariser uncovers how this growing trend threatens to control how we consume and share information as a society-and reveals what we can do about it.

Though the phenomenon has gone largely undetected until now, personalized filters are sweeping the Web, creating individual universes of information for each of us. Facebook- the primary news source for an increasing number of Americans-prioritizes the links it believes will appeal to you so that if you are a liberal, you can expect to see only progressive links. Even an old-media bastion like The Washington Post devotes the top of its home page to a news feed with the links your Facebook friends are sharing. Behind the scenes a burgeoning industry of data companies is tracking your personal information to sell to advertisers, from your political leanings to the color you painted your living room to the hiking boots you just browsed on Zappos.

In a personalized world, we will increasingly be typed and fed only news that is pleasant, familiar, and confirms our beliefs-and because these filters are invisible, we won't know what is being hidden from us. Our past interests will determine what we are exposed to in the future, leaving less room for the unexpected encounters that spark creativity, innovation, and the democratic exchange of ideas.

While we all worry that the Internet is eroding privacy or shrinking our attention spans, Pariser uncovers a more pernicious and far- reaching trend on the Internet and shows how we can- and must-change course. With vivid detail and remarkable scope, The Filter Bubble reveals how personalization undermines the Internet's original purpose as an open platform for the spread of ideas and could leave us all in an isolated, echoing world. --Barnes and Noble

About @elipariser

Eli Pariser is an online organizer and disorganizer, the former Executive Director of MoveOn (and now the board president), a co-founder of Avaaz.org, and as of May 2011 the author of The Filter Bubble.

Shortly after the September 11th terror attacks, Eli 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 Eli rather unexpectedly became an online organizer.

The website merged with MoveOn.org in November of 2001, and Eli -– 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 in the process, demonstrating for the first time that large numbers of small donations could be mobilized through online engagement, and developing many of the practices that are now standard in the field of online organizing.

In 2004, Eli co-created the Bush in 30 Seconds online ad contest, the first of its kind, and became Executive Director of MoveOn. Under his leadership, MoveOn.org Political Action grew to 5 million members and raised over $120 million from millions of small donors to support advocacy campaigns and political candidates — helping Democrats reclaim the House and Senate in 2006. Eli focused MoveOn on online-to-offline organizing, developing phone-banking tools and precinct programs in 2004 and 2006 that laid the groundwork for Barack Obamaʼs remarkable campaign. In 2008, Eli transitioned the Executive Director role at MoveOn to Justin Ruben and became president of MoveOnʼs board.

Eli has appeared as a commentator on “Good Morning America,” “World News Tonight,” the Colbert Report, and all of the major cable news channels except Fox News. His Op-Eds have appeared in the Washington Post, LA Times, and other periodicals. And heʼs appeared three times on Detailsʼ annual Power List –- though that and $1.00 can buy you a cup of coffee.

Eli grew up in Lincolnville, Maine, and graduated summa cum laude in 2000 with a B.A. in Law, Politics, and Society from Simon’s Rock College. He was lucky enough to give the Commencement Address there in 2005, and to receive an honorary high school diploma — one of very few ever given to a non-graduate of high school — from Camden-Rockport High School. He lives in Brooklyn, NY.