  Concerns affecting objectivity and bias in the context of search engines are also closely related to controversies pertaining to the lack of “openness” or “transparency” (see, for example, Noble 2018). Some critics point out that search engine companies are not fully open, or transparent, both with respect to why they (a) include some sites and not others (in their lists of results for users’ queries), and (b) rank some pages in their list of search results higher than others. These kinds of opacity/non-transparency-related concerns tend to fall under a description that Hinman (2005) calls “the problem of algorithm.” Hinman notes that the algorithms that govern searches are well-kept secrets, which he also believes is appropriate. Because Google’s PageRank algorithm is “a patented and closely guarded piece of intellectual property” (Halpern 2011, 4), we don’t know the algorithm’s formulas. And this factor, of course, makes it difficult to comment on an algorithm’s objectivity or lack thereof.