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May 24, 2006
Censorship or Responsible Journalism?
"We report", says one ideologically bent network, "and you decide". Not Google though. They decide what fookin’ websites you'll see and what news you'll read and just as importantly what results you'll get from web searches.
This is not official policy of the "Don't be evil" megacorp but it sure plays out that way in practice. They make deals with totalitarian nation-state entities to censor, deny service to vast segments of the world's population, and nark out those who go afoul of the dictatorships that Google has as clients. And further Google eliminates "hate speech" websites from their search engine results too, again based on their notions of truth, free speech, and ah.. The bottom line of their balance sheets I guess. Read one of Google's termination letters to a site they don't approve of.
"Thanks for writing. We received numerous reports about hate content on your site, and after reviewing these reports, decided to remove your site from Google News. We do not allow articles and sources expressly promoting hate speech viewpoints in Google News (although referencing hate speech for commentary and analysis is acceptable)."
Oh brother!
Just show the results of my search criteria you guys, and I'll decide what is or isn't germane or relevant, eh?
post concept via slashdot.org
Posted by Ali Massoud at May 24, 2006 10:05 AM
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