Comments on: Censorship: Not Evil

By: Patrick

Patrick — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 15:14:22 +0000

Agreed on both points Bill, with the small caveat that the First Amendment doesn't apply to Google.

By: bill

bill — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 14:34:51 +0000

The issue of censorship by Google really illustrates the slippery slope of that ugly anti-first amendment concept. Google Condolezza Rice cartoons…..you'll be amazed at what DOESN'T offend this moronic ultra-lib PC outfit. Personally, I think all such 'art' is stupid and destined for people with little else to do or bitch about.

By: Trusting Google « Ethics Alarms

Trusting Google « Ethics Alarms — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 19:36:40 +0000

[...] for about a week, the results of a Google image search for “Michelle Obama” would prominently display an offensive image of the First Lady looking as if she lived in the "Planet of the Apes" White House. Then Google took it [...]

By: PatrickKelley

PatrickKelley — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 22:02:54 +0000

Case in point-

http://www.flystylelife.com/2008/09/wtf-is-this-michelle-obama-as-an-ape-huh/

The comments on this post have been going on since September. Not September of this year, but 2008.

What's even worse, Fly Girl, the owner of the blog, which is Fly Style Life (good blog by the way) posted the picture in a post meant to criticize it, yet she's being criticized for posting it, as though she were the originator of it. She felt compelled to make at least two comments where she was clarifying the fact that she didn't do it, she was just, like all of them, bitching about it.

The point being, if it weren't for all the controversy, this picture would never show up in Google search results, unless you're the kind of person who would go through two thousand or more pages of pictures of Michelle Obama.

By: PatrickKelley

PatrickKelley — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 21:53:57 +0000

I don't know if anybody has caught on to this or not, but the more you talk about this picture, all you are doing is helping it get higher in the Google search rankings. I think that's hilarious, because most of the people that talk about it are the ones that bitch about it, which means they are a major part of the problem. If you want to call it a problem.

By: David Schwartz

David Schwartz — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 14:26:52 +0000

SPQR: But they should be deciding what is or not relevant, right? How is that image relevant to a person who searches for "michelle obama"? Why does it not rightfully deserve to be buried in deep obscurity?

By: Vice Magnet

Vice Magnet — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 06:04:56 +0000

Sounds like Lin was quoting a line from the movie Terminator.

By: SPQR

SPQR — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 02:40:22 +0000

jpe, you miss the point. Patrick is stating that he does not think that Google should be deciding what is and what is not racist for us. I think this is a more marginal issue than Patrick makes out but I don't necessarily subscribe to Ken's "devil's advocacy" either. There are better examples of Google's hypocrisy.

By: jpe

jpe — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 00:55:20 +0000

If there's enough of a market for racist search engines, then you'll get your wish of an engine that ranks racist garbage along w/ standard fare. The market is perfectly capable of sorting this one out.

By: PatrickKelley

PatrickKelley — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 13:52:49 +0000

Ken-

"So when someone does a Google image search of “cute puppies,” they might come up with our horrific and/or obscene image."

Thank you, man. Muahahahaha

By: Greg Conen

Greg Conen — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:12:56 +0000

To be clear: nothing to apologize for in this case. In other areas, they do have some things I would like to see changed.

By: Greg Conen

Greg Conen — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:10:47 +0000

And Lin demonstrates why Google needs those warning labels it sometimes puts for controversial results like this. People confuse Google with the content creator, rather than an aggregator.

Google has nothing to apologize for, other than an (inevitably) imperfect algorithm.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 10:06:46 +0000

Do not do what again Lin?

By: Lin Masumbuko

Lin Masumbuko — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 09:48:34 +0000

Do not do that again.

By: Lin Masumbuko

Lin Masumbuko — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 09:45:46 +0000

Such an image of the American First Lady, Michelle Obama, portrays how cruel, racist and bad these people are. Remember, that some Americans believed that it would never happen that an Afro-American (Black) rule USA. So, it was a serious wound for them to see Obama at the head of such a super power.
When Obama was elected, Americans proved that they might be considered the most democratic nation in the world, but as days go on, this concept disappears.

I think google should apoligize for this scandle, otherwise the