MichaelZimmer.org

Philipp Lenssen points out that when you search Google for “she invented,” on the results page you are asked “Did you mean ‘he invented’?” There has been lots of discussion on this seemingly misogynistic “correction” that Google provides, and those familiar with my research know that I’m a proponent of critiquing algorithm and system design [...]

Search Engine Watch speculates that Google might start using WHOIS information in their ranking of web pages. A recent patent application filed by Google, Information retrieval based on historical data, hints at the possible use of domain information in the ranking of results: Domain registration could be used as a way to determine the “document [...]

When the deal between Google and AOL was first announced, I (among others) complained that Google was introducing bias into their search engine results by teaching AOL how to “game” the system in order to optimize the placement of AOL sites within Google’s search results. Now, according to John Battelle, it seems that this part [...]

I recently received a request from a journalism graduate student to comment on a story about “growing anti-Google sentiment and what is fueling it” and about “how Google’s principles have changed, and how the public is reacting to this switch.” Here are my brief answers to the questions posed: “Do you have a sense that [...]

Mark Fiore’s latest cartoon satirizes the activities of US search engine companies contributing to the Great Firewall of China: “Protect Your Regime with iRepress – with Powerful Democracy Filtering!”

Last month, Google changed their censorship policy after launching their censored Google.cn service in China. Now it seems Google has changed its “core principles” regarding providing only organic search results. Previously Google’s Principles included this statement: The order and contents of Google search results are completely automated. No one hand picks a particular result for [...]

Bambi Francisco writes that Google’s recent decision to officially censor search results in China violates its core values: It’s profound what being a public company can do to the core values of a young firm. was less than two years ago that Google Inc. (GOOG) co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin thumbed their noses at [...]

Google’s official policy on censoring and otherwise altering search results has been updated since their decision to provide censored results for China. The policy can be found at the help page for the question “Does Google censor search results?” The previous policy read: Google does not censor results for any search term. The order and [...]

Philipp Lenssen points to this report that a group of people from Students for a Free Tibet gathered in front of the Googleplex to protest against Google bowing to Chinese censorship requests. From SFT’s press release: “Students and young people worldwide are appalled by Google’s decision to become active partners in China’s censorship apparatus,” said [...]

Google has officially launched google.cn, a version of its search service designed to appease the Chinese government’s desire to block searches related to Taiwanese or Tibetan independence, the Tiananmen massacre, Falun Gong, etc. CNN posted this statement from Google on the matter: In order to operate from China, we have removed some content from the [...]