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FC: Google quietly deletes 100+ controversial sites from search results

------- Forwarded message follows ------- Date sent: Thu, 24 Oct 2002 09:03:21 -0400 From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com> To: politech@politechbot.com Subject: FC: Google quietly deletes 100+ controversial sites from search results Send reply to: declan@well.com

http://news.com.com/2100-1023-963132.html

Google excluding controversial sites By Declan McCullagh October 23, 2002, 8:55 PM PT

Google, the world's most popular search engine, has quietly deleted more than 100 controversial sites from some search result listings.

Absent from Google's French and German listings are Web sites that are anti-Semitic, pro-Nazi, or related to white supremacy, according to a new report from Harvard University's Berkman Center. Also banned is Jesus-is-lord.com, a fundamentalist Christian site that is adamantly opposed to abortion.

Google confirmed on Wednesday that the sites had been removed from listings available at Google.fr and Google.de. The removed sites continue to appear in listings on the main Google.com site.

The Harvard report, prepared by law student Ben Edelman and assistant professor Jonathan Zittrain and scheduled to be released Thursday, is the result of automated testing of Google's massive 2.5 billion-page index and comparing the results returned by different foreign-language versions. The duo found 113 excluded sites, most with racial overtones.

"To avoid legal liability, we remove sites from Google.de search results pages that may conflict with German law," said Google spokesman Nate Tyler. He indicated that each of the sites that were delisted came after a specific complaint from a foreign government.

[...]

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