Google found to be censoring sites

[Sazerac]

This in from AP:

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Report: Sites Missing From Google
Thu Oct 24, 6:04 PM ET
By ANICK JESDANUN, AP Internet Writer

NEW YORK (AP) - What you get through Google (news - external web site)'s powerful and popular search engines may depend on where you live.

A report Thursday from Harvard Law School found at least 100 sites missing from search results when accessing Google sites meant for French and German users.

Most of the missing sites are ones that deny the Holocaust or promote white supremacy. France and Germany have strict laws banning hate speech, while the United States favors freedom of expression even for unpopular viewpoints.

The sites themselves were not blocked. But the effect is the same when users cannot find them, said Danny Sullivan, editor of SearchEngineWatch.com.

"Search engines are an incredible tool for people to locate information on the Web," Sullivan said. "If you pull a Web site out of a search engine, you are in some degree censoring, in some degree making it inaccessible to some people."

In a statement, Google spokesman Nathan Tyler said the company must occasionally remove sites to avoid legal liability. Such removals, he said, are in response to specific requests and are not done preemptively.

"We carefully consider any credible complaint on a case-by-case basis and take necessary action," Tyler said. "We only react to requests that come to us."

Google, Yahoo!, Amazon and several other companies run separate sites for different countries, often in native languages and featuring local currencies. The primary, ".com" version is generally considered the U.S. site, though it is accessible from elsewhere, including France and Germany.

Jonathan Zittrain, a professor at Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet & Society, and Ben Edelman, a Berkman researcher, found about 65 sites excluded from Google.de, the German site. They found 113 sites, including the 65, missing at Google.fr, the French site.

Testing was conducted Oct. 4-21.
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Personally, although I certainly don't like white supremacy or "hate" sites, I'm concerned about search engines taking it upon themselves to ban certain pages. What's the next thing they're going to filter out?

-Sazerac

[Albromor]

Well it seems to me that Google is complying to the law as dictated by France and Germany. To do otherwise is to lose their ability to be part of the internet market in those nations which brings up an interesting point. Where does the EU (European Union)stand on this matter?

The free peoples of France and Germany have determined that they don't want access to these sites and have enacted laws agaisnt them. You can't knock Google for trying to limit its liability in the ICC or other international courts. Kinda makes me glad US service personell won't be subject to that kind of thing [img]smile.gif[/img]

I think those sites are only being blocked for those countries too.

[ 10-25-2002, 01:31 PM: Message edited by: MagiK ]

[Sazerac]

If they can do it there, they can do it here. It's only a matter of time, friends.

-Saz

[Nachtrafe]

Originally posted by Sazerac: If they can do it there, they can do it here. It's only a matter of time, friends. -Saz

Sing it Brother Saz!!

Nacht

[Attalus]

I'm with everybody here. I hate Holocaust deniers and have never visited a hate speech site ( except that anti-everything one. ) but I am not in favor of the search engines taking it upon themselves to decide what an adult can read.

[Calaethis Dragonsbane]

I am not in favor of the search engines taking it upon themselves to decide what an adult can read.

Well said Att.

[Nachtrafe]

When I lived in Idaho we had a HUGE to do back in 2000. In North Idaho there is a (very) large White Supremist presence. They even had a large compound there where they trained, recruited, and lived. One day there was an incident involving a black woman and her child. One of the gate guards heard the woman's car backfire and thought someone was taking a shot(the compound used to get drive-bys on a regular basis). He returned fire(the gate guards are armed with rifles. It's legal on private property in Idaho). The woman then took the WHOLE GROUP to court, lawyers and media maggots came out of the woodwork, the supremists lost their compound, which was bought by a CA millionaire and turned into an anti-hate museum.

Now, my objection is this: The guard f*cked up. He was arrested and charged with unlawful discharge of a firearm and attempted murder. He's currently in the state pen. THE GUILTY PARTY WAS PROPERLY PUNISHED!! But no, that's not good enough. The left-wing, anti-bloody-everything-that-we-dont-like groups came outta the friggin woodwork and forced these people out. They claimed the shooting was 'A hate crime' and 'racially motivated'. WTF??

Now personally, I cant stand those skinhead bastards. BUT...They have just as much right to say what they want as I do. And it frost my cookies that a bunch of whining socialist types can get them shut down with NO CAUSE WHATSOEVER!! I guess free speech is only allowed as long as it's the PC version. GRRRRRRR

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Anyway... [img]graemlins/rant.gif[/img] over. I'm sorry if this is too [img]graemlins/offtopic.gif[/img] I think I had a somewhere point about censorship, but it got buried under the indignation. The whole incident still gets me !

Nacht

Along the sam vein [img]smile.gif[/img] China is blocking Google [img]smile.gif[/img] It's citizens get redirected to a "State Approved" search engine. Im not sure but I think it was mentioned that this was done in such a way that most users would not even know it.

I agree with your view point Nacht. but you can't expect a group with extreme views to be treated fairly and with the same rules that some groups expect to be treated with.....ummm Im not sure why though.