Google: An explanation of our search results: Google bought their own AdWord for the “jew” search term and uses it to link to a page explaining why the first link is an anti-semitic site. If you’re confused, here’s the background of the problem.
If you use Google to search for “Judaism,” “Jewish” or “Jewish people,” the results are informative and relevant. So why is a search for “Jew” different? One reason is that the word “Jew” is often used in an anti-Semitic context. Jewish organizations are more likely to use the word “Jewish” when talking about members of their faith. The word has become somewhat charged linguistically…
I did like the text of the AdWord link:
We’re disturbed about these results as well. Please read our note…
However, here’s the interesting thing: the Wikipedia entry for “jew” is on top now because of an organized GoogleBombing by people concerned about the results. Thousands of sites had a single entry of the word “jew” linked to Wikipedia’s entry on the term. That was enough to push Wikipedia up the results and knock JewWatch out.
Dropping the Bomb on Google: Apparently the Google bombing of the term "jew" hasn't been as effective as we reported earlier. The offending site is back in the top spot as of this writing. Wired has some more background behind the campaign. Mobilizing some 125,000 petitioners, Weinstock said he…
Google won't dump offensive anti-Semitic site: Google is in a bad spot here. Searching for the word "jew" on Google returns an anti-semitic site in the top spot. "I certainly am very offended by the site, but the objectivity of our rankings is one of our very important principles," ...…
This is certainly a creative way for Google to deal with some of the problems of remaining unbiased while still having human feelings. Likewise, I'm impressed by the GoogleBombing effort to add bias to a system that does its best to eliminate it.
But I'm not getting any anti-semitic results at all now. Not that I'm looking for them, I just wonder if the Jews on the internet have all read Google's explanation and started using the word "Jew" on their web pages, thus boosting their pagerank for that term. Similarly, the textad mentioned is no longer present. Curious.
I am a moderator of the White Nationalist site Stormfront, and am also peripherally connected with the jewwatch controversy.
We are interested in this for obvious reasons.
Will the 'net allow itself to be censored?
Our bet is that they'll install an optional "hate filter" on their results, defaulting to "on".
In any case kudos to Brin, jewish himself, for saying no to hacking the search engine. That is integrity!!!
[comment edited to remove links to stuff I don't like -- no one said this site was a democracy... -- Deane]
First there was infamous "jewwatch" scandal. When Steve Weinstock entered search term "Jew" on Google, the world's leading search engine, the blatantly anti-Semitic web-site http://www.jewwatch.info appeared as the very first listing!
Mr. Weinstock launched a campaign - at http://www.removejewwatch.com - to remove that site from the top spot. He succeeded! But the site soon regained the first position before again losing it. So it appears to be an ongoing battle.
Now the anti-Semites have widened their attack. Google's #1 listing for "Rabbi Jokes" shows the neo-nazi site http://www.nazi-lauck-nsdapao.com . It even has cartoon animations of leading Jewish figures in addition to holocaust denial books and the infamous nazi film “The Eternal Jew”.
Anti-racist activists are urged to cut-and-paste this announcement and insert it into forums.
