Apr 27, 2010 at 2:34pm ET by Matt McGee

See this screenshot above? The Brazilian government doesn't like it. Actually, they don't like where it came from: Google's Government Requests tool, which was just launched last week. The AP reports that Brazil's government has contacted Google's representatives in that country for clarification about the numbers shown above -- numbers that Brazil says give the country a bad name. Google's tool shows two kinds of numbers: Government requests for user data and government requests for content removal. The numbers cover requests made between July and December, 2009. In both cases, Braz [...]

Google Opens Tool Showing Government Requests For Data

Apr 20, 2010 at 4:01pm ET by Matt McGee

Google has announced a new tool that makes public the government requests it receives for data and content removal. It's called Government Requests, and it currently shows requests that Google received between July 1 and December 31, 2009. Google admits, in a very detailed FAQ, that the data is not comprehensive. (The tool doesn't include stats for countries that have made less than 30 requests for user data related to criminal cases in the six-month period, for example.) Google says it will update the tool with new data in six-month increments, and that the company intends to "provi [...]

Losing Google? Chinese Scientists Say It’s Like Going Blind, Life Without Electricity

Feb 25, 2010 at 1:35pm ET by Matt McGee

Chinese scientists say their research will be dramatically compromised if Google shuts down its search engine in China. One scientist says it would be like going blind: "If I lose Google, it will [be] just like a man without his eyes." Another says it "would be like life without electricity." Those quotes and several statistics showing the potential impact of a Google-less China on the country's scientists are detailed in a new Nature magazine article, A land without Google? Nature surveyed 784 Chinese scientists and 84% said that losing Google would "somewhat or significantly" hamp [...]

Ballmer Blogs His Thoughts On Google, China

Jan 28, 2010 at 4:41pm ET by Matt McGee

Both current Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and former CEO Bill Gates have recently spoken out critically about Google's stance on doing business in China. (See my previous posts, Ballmer Critical Of Google’s China Decision and Like Ballmer, Bill Gates Dings Google On China.) Now, Ballmer is putting his thoughts in writing ... well, electronic writing ... via a post on Microsoft's new blog. Says Ballmer: Engagement in China and around the world is very important to us, in part because we believe it accelerates access to 21st century technology and services and helps provide the widest po [...]

Like Ballmer, Bill Gates Dings Google On China

Jan 25, 2010 at 11:56pm ET by Matt McGee

Bill Gates doesn't get the fuss everyone's making over Google's recent threat to stop censoring search results in China. "They've done nothing and gotten a lot of credit for it," Gates said Monday during a visit at The New York Times. "What point are they making?" Mr. Gates asked. "Now, if Google ever chooses to pull out of the United States, then I'd give them credit." Gates' comments come just days after current Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was also critical of Google's stance. Both Gates and Ballmer pointed out that many countries have questionable laws and policies. Lest Serge [...]

Ballmer Critical Of Google’s China Decision

Jan 22, 2010 at 7:10pm ET by Matt McGee

At a conference in Houston on Thursday, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer spoke critically of Google's recent decision to stop censoring its search results in China. Paraphrasing some of Ballmer's statements, Forbes says Ballmer called it an "irrational business decision" on Google's part. Ballmer suggested that Google's decision to no longer filter out internet searches objectionable to the Chinese government was an irrational business decision. After all, Ballmer said, the U.S. imports oil from Saudi Arabia despite the censorship that goes on in that country. "The U.S. is the most extreme wh [...]

Google Buys Search Ad In Response To The China Decision

Jan 20, 2010 at 4:39pm ET by Barry Schwartz

The Wall Street Journal noted that Google has purchased search ads for queries done on Google.com for "Google Leaves China" or "Google vs. Baidu." Clearly, Google wants people to read their position on the recent move for them ending the censorship of Google China. Here is a picture of the ad: Google, on occasion, will buy search ads to explain why the search results are a certain way. Here, they are explaining why Google China is no longer censored, but previously they have purchased ads for why an offensive image of Michelle Obama appeared on Google Images. They have also purcha [...]

Google Just Says No To China: Ending Censorship, Due To Gmail Attack

Jan 12, 2010 at 6:00pm ET by Danny Sullivan

Google has revealed that the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists were targeted last December in a hacking attempt. That, along with other issues, has convinced the company that it will no longer censor results China as the Chinese government wishes. In particular, Google has willingly allowed self-censored its search results since January 27, 2006, on its Google China service. The screenshot above show an example of this, where a search for tiananmen on Google China (on the left) doesn't bring up protest pictures as you get when searching for the same thing on Google's main [...]

Of Climategate, Googlegate & When Stories Get Too Long

Dec 1, 2009 at 12:52am ET by Danny Sullivan

Daily Telegraph writer James Delingpole got worked up yesterday because his colleague Christopher Booker's story on the "Climategate" scandal mysteriously disappeared from Google. Skullduggery, he pondered? Nothing so dramatic, says Google. The article simply grew too big in length to stay in Google News. Let's do the breakdown. Booker's story of November 28 covered the controversy over how academics at the University Of East Anglia were apparently trying to suppress anti-global warming views from other academics from getting widespread attention. Booker's story, Climate change: this is [...]

Offensive Michelle Obama Image Returns, Google Buys Ad To Explain

Nov 23, 2009 at 4:55pm ET by Matt McGee

Google is buying ads to explain why an offensive image of the First Lady is back in its index and ranking so highly on searches for Michelle Obama in Google Image Search. As we reported last week, Google had originally removed the Michelle Obama image on the grounds that the site hosting the image violated Google's guidelines by serving malware to visitors. But the same image remained available on other sites that hadn't run afoul of the rules. Google's ad, shown above, leads searchers to http://www.google.com/resultsinfo.html, which apologizes to users who've "had an upsetting experienc [...]

Bing Censoring Chinese Search Results? Should There Be A Bing Boycott?

Nov 23, 2009 at 9:22am ET by Barry Schwartz

Boycott Microsoft Bing by Nicholas Kristof at the New York Times claims Microsoft is "sacrificing the integrity of Bing searches so as to cozy up to State Security in Beijing." It is believes that Microsoft is censoring their search results to appease the Chinese government. Microsoft responded to this criticism with their blog post named committed to comprehensive results. Microsoft said they fixed a bug over the summer and discovered a new bug over the weekend with image search and using Simplified Chinese characters outside of the PRC. Microsoft said the "bug" will be fixed before t [...]

Google Removes Offensive Obama Image; Was It Justified?

Nov 19, 2009 at 1:19pm ET by Matt McGee

Saying the host site was serving malware to users, Google has removed a controversial photo of First Lady Michelle Obama from Google Image Search. The site itself, however, remains listed in Google web search results without any visible malware warning. Welcome to the murky world of free speech, politics, and Google. It began last week, when Search Engine Roundtable pointed out a racist image showing as the number one result in Google Image Search for the term [Michelle Obama]. The image was apparently removed yesterday. In a Google Web Search Help Forum thread discussing the image, a [...]

Chinese Newspaper Says Google Censored Its Web Site

Oct 27, 2009 at 2:04pm ET by Matt McGee

Oh, the irony: The People's Daily, the main newspaper of China's Communist Party, says Google censored its web site by adding a malware warning to search result listings for the newspaper's book section. The paper says the malware warning appeared after it ran an article about a Chinese group that has suggested Google's book search settlement might violate the rights of Chinese authors. The paper says the malware warning appeared for three days, and claimed that its book section was "maliciously blocked by Google." Google called the claims "absolutely incorrect" and pointed out that i [...]

Google Skirts Around South Korea Law With YouTube

Apr 13, 2009 at 1:21pm ET by Barry Schwartz

PC World reports Google has disabled the ability for users to upload videos or comment on videos at YouTube Korea. Google made this move after South Korea passed a new law that requires sites with 100,000 unique visitors per day to require users to provide their real name and national ID card number before posting such videos and comments. Google still allows videos to be uploaded and comments to be added while in Korea, as long as you change the YouTube Korea site to a non-Korean version, within the YouTube settings section. This is Google's way of "skirting around" the new law. YouTube [...]

California Lawmaker Jumps On ‘Google Maps Helps Terrorists’ Bandwagon

Mar 9, 2009 at 12:44pm ET by Matt McGee

A California lawmaker has introduced a bill that would limit what Google Maps and other online mapping sites are allowed to show, on the basis that these online tools help terrorists plan attacks. We've been here before: Late last year, the Indian government suggested that Google Earth should be censored after terrorists involved in the Mumbai attacks reportedly admitted to using Google Earth when planning their missions. According to The Industry Standard, the new California bill would prevent Google and others from showing "aerial or satellite images of schools, places of worship, go [...]

Google: ‘Don’t Blame Us For Terrorism’

Feb 13, 2009 at 8:26am ET by Matt McGee

Comparing it to blaming car makers for deadly car bombs, Google Earth chief John Hanke recently said Google shouldn't be blamed for terrorist use of Google Earth. Hanke defended his online mapping tools in a recent interview with the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper. "You have cars; you have car bombs," Hanke said. "You have GPS transceivers that help you navigate; those GPS transceivers could be used for lots of nefarious purposes. Cell phones have all kinds of benefits; cell phones can be used to detonate a remote explosive device." His comments are in response to ongoing concerns over [...]

Google & Baidu Fail China’s Pornography Test, May Lead To Penalties

Jan 5, 2009 at 9:02am ET by Barry Schwartz

The Associated Press reports that China has begun a process to "purify the Internet's cultural environment and protect the healthy development of minors." This has resulted in the Chinese government finding that both Google and Baidu have failed to take "efficient" actions to remove content from their results after being notified of issues. The AP added that China said violators will be "severely punished," but did not say how they might be punished. Cui Jin, a Google spokeswoman in China, told the AP that Google does not have any pornographic content in Google China and added, "if we [...]

Indian Government Wants Google Earth Censored

Dec 11, 2008 at 5:04pm ET by Matt McGee

On the heels of the tragic terrorist attacks in Mumbai last month, legal advocates in India are asking the country's High Court to demand that Google blur sensitive locations on Google Earth. The Times reports that the Indian petition says Google Earth "aids terrorists in plotting attacks" and offers "absolutely no control to prevent misuse or limit access" of the service, particularly access to photos of sensitive locations such as the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre. In the wake of the attacks, there were many reports that the terrorists used high-tech tools -- including GPS -- to plan, [...]

Argentina Forcing Google & Yahoo To Censor Search Results

Nov 11, 2008 at 2:23pm ET by Matt McGee

In response to court orders, Yahoo and Google are censoring search results in Argentina about a variety of celebrities, including public officials, models, actors, and sports stars. According to an in depth article on OpenNet Initiative, this has been going on since 2006 and more than 100 people have succeeded in getting Google and Yahoo to filter search results in Argentina. Astonishingly, a search on Yahoo Argentina for [Diego Maradona] -- one of the world's most well known soccer stars and the current national team head coach -- produces zero results, along with a message from Yahoo [...]

India Sues Google, Yahoo & Microsoft For Allowing Sex Selection Search Ads

Aug 14, 2008 at 9:10am ET by Barry Schwartz

India's National Newspaper reports that India's Supreme Court is suing Google, Yahoo and Microsoft for allowing "sex selection" ads. India has a law that does not allow the sale or advertisement of services that allow people to pick the sex of their unborn child. India has virtually stopped all advertisements on TV, newsprint and radio, and are now trying to ban the ads online. India's "The Preconception and Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act" disallows ads for services or products that aid in the selection of an unborn child's sex. Chief Justice K.G. Balakri [...]

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