- Tuesday, 9 February 2010
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How many Bloody Marys have you had? - Richard Faria, Temonmichi
Google backs away from racist search results
SEARCH OUTFIT Google is sticking up adverts linked to words which could be used by racists saying that it has nothing to do with supporting that sort of thing.
People have been more than a little miffed that their nice searches on things like Judaism have been spoilt by the appearance of racist and anti-Semitic material in search results.
The latest outcry has been about a picture which depicts US First Lady Michelle Obama as a monkey.
The advert signed by the Google Team warns that sometimes Google search results from the Internet can include disturbing content, even for seemingly innocuous queries.
"We assure you that the views expressed by such sites are not in any way endorsed by Google," it said.
The particular ad that's stirred up objections recently appears on a page of image search results for Michelle Obama that includes an offensive depiction of her.
"The beliefs and preferences of those who work at Google, as well as the opinions of the general public, do not determine or impact our search results," the advert warns. The explanation also appears on a page featuring search results for the word "Jew".
We would have thought it fairly obvious, but we guess in the US there are regions famous for banning books that people find offensive, as well as Beatles records, and there is a belief that if you see something you don't like you should have the right to censor it.
That does not work on the Internet, however. µ
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I belong to a minority often referred to with racist slurs but I don't see what google can do about their search results without limiting freedom of opinion and speech.
I typed "racist" and got sites all about NASCAR.
I just ignored it. I'm not bothered by what people say. Letting that happen just gives them way too much power.
And returned verbal assaults empower them too. I guess doing the ignore thing really works. Yes it does.
The last I heard Google was going along with the censorship requirements of the Chinese government for its China-based searches. All I ask is that Google be honest about its motives. Either censor materials or do not. Either believe in free speech or do not. Google should not change its view of censorship according to the governing body of the locality where it wishes to offer its services.
ALL Religions ARE Based On Preposterious Falsehood & World is Mite Part of its' Potential. Potentatee' or God, its' your choice.
Whose RACE Do WE Belong to or How Stupid Can This GO? One Bottle of Penicillian can Throw God Family Into RED Eyed Buzzards. Soon Its' NONE for You & Mere thought, ?Replacement.
Matbe MIKE went too Far on GOD thing or REligious Swinerie. UnSurrendered French Nationals Ported IN, Missing King of ENGLAND & efforts. Or Did They? Ding, Ding Dung Kama Lui lueye, Karma kaka:Office of SCIENTOLIGIST Master.
drashek
In Polish google, when you type in the Polish word for Jew ("żyd") google won't suggest anything. No one knows why.
Amazing what Google relates things to
http://www.use.com/media/2009/1125/315709/p_001.jpg
This whole thing is bollocks. You can google anything and mix it with anything and you'll get the desired effect http://images.google.co.uk/images?q=pope%20monkey&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi
Some chimps have white faces and some have black faces. If a racist thinks that it's an insult to call Mrs. Obama an ape, they should be shown a picture of the 'hareless chimp'. Clearly, he's white. And poorly endowed. In fact, my browser at work won't let me view pics of him, other than thumbnails in the search window. I could ask for an exception, but I don't think that would go over well...
At least Google isn't censoring. But I think it's a sad sign of the times when a company like Google needs a disclamer on its search results - Google is clearly not at fault for everyone else's stupidity.
@Drashek: do we really need more bashing? It's bad enough that you guys have to fill threads with barely legible garbage and make believe you're a computer or something, do you have to hate, too?
Please START your post with 'Drashek' so I know to not read.
With 15 million results on a google search I think it's only reasonable to get some "off topic" results. I pick through them or refine my search to get what I want. If I don't like the result, I don't click on it. Why all the fuss? I don't want my searches censored because I'm the only one who knows what I'm looking for.
I totally agree that it's unfortunate that Google feels the need to do this and I do consider myself pretty close to a free speech purist. But, the slam at the U.S. was a bit unnecessary. OK, so we have some folks who burn Harry Potter and such and try to get it banned from local libraries (usually unsuccessfully) and one of our prominent Universities (Yale) published a book about the infamous Muhammad cartoons but refused to actually put the offending cartoons in the book (I wish I were joking). But, Europe in general, and the UK in particular are not innocent either as they have tried to legislate out hate speech and anything "offensive to religion". And to say these laws have been enforced unevenly would be an understatement (I'll let you guess what I mean by that). Many parts of Europe outlaw Holocaust denial, not realizing the best feature of not doing so: when you let the bigots speak their mind, you know who the bigots are. This is a feature not a bug. Hell, in Canada, you get the state to pay your legal costs if you simply accuse someone of offending you while the defendant has to foot their own bill (again, I wish I were kidding). So, it was a cute bit of anti-American (more likely, anti-redneck) snark but let's remember that views on free speech are not going in the right direction globally and we should all be concerned about that.