Uncensored

November 14, 2007 - 4:00 PM by

On Monday a whole bunch of writer/blogger types gathered in Herzeliya for a conference addressing Hate on the Web.

Liza who blogs here at Israelity and on her own site went on over and reports back that despite the seemingly ominous subject matter, the day was an inspiration.

One topic addressed, however, may loom a bit murky. That’s Google’s stance of no stance. I.e. Google has been very clear about the fact that they will NOT be censoring anti-semitic or racist Internet sites.

“Google cannot and will not censor the information which appears on its search engines. What is and isn’t proper internet content is for governments and courts to decide, not for us,” said Meir Brand, CEO of Google Israel Monday.

Brand spoke at a coference held by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in Herzliya, titled “Poisoning the Web – Hate on the Internet,” which included a special panel on Google’s refusal to censor anti-Semitic results that pop-up on its search engines.

Go here for more detail.

Do you think this is a cause for concern? Are YOU worried?

Tags: • Category: A New Reality, Blogging, Business, Technology 

Comments

4 Comments on Uncensored

  1. Fred on Wed, Nov 14th 2007 8:44 PM

    2. I believe in an uncensored Internet. Unless it is child porn, national security, or something like that all speech should be allowed. And Google shouldn’t be in the business of censoring any of it.

    That said they really need to take down Google Earth, at least for Israel as it can be used for targeting purposes by those who want to harm Israel.

  2. Liza on Thu, Nov 15th 2007 10:18 AM

    3. With regard to the Google search engine, I’m inclined to agree with Mr Brand, having heard what he had to say at the conference (at least with regard to this issue). Censoring the material will not make it go away, and just as people looking for hate on the internet will use search engines like Google to find these sites, so will organizations like the ADL, which also rely (at least partially) on search engines to find and track hate sites.

    As for Google Earth, this is a more problematic issue, precisely for the reason that Fred mentions. However, I’d be willing to bet that more children use Google Earth to learn about geography than terrorists do to learn about potential targets.

    I think with any new, widely available technology, no matter what kind of technology it is (medical, etc), there will always be people who will try to use it in a way other than that which was intended. Not having access to Google Earth will not keep the terrorists from firing rockets into Israel, and censoring hate sites will not keep them from existing.

    What I have a bigger problem with, as I mentioned to Mr Brand after he spoke, is that Google now owns Blogger, and that there are a number of blogs hosted by Blogger that contain hate speech. Of course, this is somewhat subjective, given that something I consider hateful may not be considered as such by someone else. So my questions are, to what degree should Google be responsible for blogs being hosted by Blogger, and where should the line be drawn between “acceptable” hate speech and “unacceptable” hate speech?

  3. Warren on Thu, Nov 15th 2007 12:01 PM

    4. My only question for Google Israel is: when will Google Maps get street maps for Israel?

  4. Darnell Clayton on Sat, Nov 17th 2007 3:03 AM

    5. To Liz: Google applies the same measure to blogger as it does to the search engines–which I completely agree with.

    By allowing these anti-Semetic morons (and I say that “lovingly”) to speak their mind, it gives the world a chance to examine a past evil in the living present. It also shows how bias can twist people’s mentality, encouraging future generations to avoid the pitfall of ignorance.

    To Warren: They probably would, although the Knesset may object to that.

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