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Not that I'm pro-gun, but I'd much prefer that Google stay out of politics. The potential for abuse is enormous.
by calibas 9y ago
Not that I'm pro-gun, but I'd much prefer that Google stay out of politics. The potential for abuse is enormous.
- golemotron 9y agoIt's too late. They've chosen that bed. Now they'll have to lie in it.
- sp332 9y agoGoogle is very political, to begin with. And if they're afraid that their product might be involved in getting people killed, it makes sense to change the product. You don't have to be too "political" to make that decision.
- jboggan 9y agoIf you can't find results for "paint guns" then it was clearly a ham-handed political change and not something driven or even vetted by engineering. Also, last I checked, Google returns results for "body disposal", "Anarchist's Cookbook", and a host of information useful for doing harm to other human beings. I don't see how that makes them complicit in anything. Maybe they should change their mission statement: "To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful, unless it's this month's politically sensitive topic trending on Twitter."
- sp332 9y agoTrue, the way they've implemented this seems calculated to cause a splash. I expect they'll roll out a more nuanced version after the attention passes.
- jboggan 9y agoI don't think it was calculated at all. It's highly likely this was just a few lines adding "gun/rifle/revolver/etc." to the blacklist of forbidden search terms for that service. It's the same list containing terms like "child porn" and as long as one of the file owners approves the CL it goes into production immediately. I really doubt this went through a regular launch process and had an Ariane bit flipped as part of a proper review.
- sp332 9y agoWell you know more about Google than I do. It just seems like a big change with a lot of very predictable/testable collateral damage as pointed out in the rest of this thread.
- calcifer 9y agoNeutrality is a myth. On every issue, one either sides with the status quo (explicitly, or implicitly by staying silent) or the opposition. For Google specifically, they were never neutral in the first place. You are already getting results tailored to you.
- teawrecks 9y agoPolitical dichotomies are also a myth.
- calcifer 9y agoSure, but that doesn’t invalidate my point. Even with multiple opposition choices, everyone chooses something.
- sp332 9y agoThere might not be only one opposing view, but it's true that "staying out of politics" usually means handing more power to whoever is in power already.
- yndoendo 9y agoHow about the view of looking for exceptions and false statements and questions politician not by a party line nor a policy but by individual reasoning for said content? Being critical of all.
- sp332 9y agoThat seems... very politically active?
- Slansitartop 9y agoNo, "staying out of politics" just means refusing to try to tip the scales one way or another and/or being indifferent the outcome.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- jumpman500 9y agoI mean we can already call this abuse kind of. What if I meant to search for 'nerf gun', 'water gun', 'air gun', 'bb gun' or 'glue gun'? It doesn't seem like google thought much about this change.
- daveFNbuck 9y agoToy guns are probably a desired target here if this is a reaction to school shootings.
- BoorishBears 9y agoAnd glue gun?
- daveFNbuck 9y agoThey probably didn't intend to block that.
- jjeaff 9y agoHow about, paint gun, nail gun, staple gun, there are so many products with the word gun in them.
- DanBC 9y agoYou can buy toy guns freely in every EU country. We have very few school shootings.
- daveFNbuck 9y agoIn the US, toy guns are blamed as part of the gun culture and people may want to restrict them in reaction to a school shooting. I'm not saying it's rational, just that it may have been intentional.
- daveFNbuck 9y agoI'd say the more worrying searches it blocks are "gun lock" and "gun safe".
- Slansitartop 9y agoYeah, this is, frankly, one more reason why they need to be broken up. It's unwise to allow a monopoly (or near monopoly) in something as essential as search, and doubly so if the monopoly isn't exceedingly scrupulous to act and appear to act neutrally, especially in regards to political controversies.
- maxxxxx 9y agoAgreed. They shouldn't filter out things that are legal. I would be happy to make guns illegal but until that happens they should show them.
- greglindahl 9y agoSo, let's consider sex toys. Sex toys with names that might come up for searches not explicitly aiming at sex toys...
- dragonwriter 9y agoEven outside of Google's own organic political preferences, people with political preferences aren't excluded from markets Google is trying to win, so (without regulations applying to all market participants), Google has strong incentives for reactive involvement in politics.