I read this story and thought, well, "seems implausible".
Then I tried it.
Type in any religion you can think of -- even some pretty obscure faiths -- and you get suggestions like "XYZ is a cult" etc etc.
But not Islam.
Try it -- go to www.google.com and you'll see for yourself.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/islam-is-verboten-on-google/article1432713/
"... A feature called Google Suggest appeared to be self-censoring results ...
People have been having fun with Google Suggest (its auto-complete feature).
When you start typing a query, the search engine tries to complete your sentence, popping up suggestions as you type. ... The trouble started when the trick was tried on world’s religions. It was soon discovered that typing in leading questions about different faiths turns up a series of uniformly disgruntled suggestions: “Christianity is a lie,” “Judaism is a cult,” “Buddhism is not what you think,” “Hinduism is wrong” and so on.
However, if you type “Islam is,” Google Suggest suggests – nothing. Google Suggest happily reflects users’ derisive queries about every other religion, but when it comes to Islam, it’s mute. It gives the appearance that Google is self-censoring to avoid trouble with a religion whose extremists are increasingly militant about slights.
...
Google says that the Islam omission is “a bug.” This explanation has been greeted with more than a little skepticism. To offer suggestions for terms from “Alabama” to “zygote” and then choke on “Islam is” is one oddball technical difficulty. Google employees are known for many things – being bad at programming is not one of them. "
14 comments:
Mocking Islam is wrong because it is the true religion of God almighty.
Actually the ability to question and yes, even mock religion ( even Islam) is a sign of enlightenment. We don’t need no stinking sky fairies telling us how to live.
Google needs to show some balls on this issue.
Actually, I agree that mocking Islam is wrong -- but I don't think mocking any faith is right. Whether the Google autocomplete function is "mocking" is another issue. But it does raise the question of whether Google should have the right to choose what texts to digitize -- if they cannot allow a proper search under "Islam" what will they do with difficult books?
AntiSky,
I don't agree with mocking but I will defend your right to mock!
james
Delete this post or we'll blow up your little white Toodle
If you google "google is" you get stuff!
You’re full of it, Morton. Same is true about Judaism. When you search for it on google there is nothing derogatory. Are you a terrorist that is why?
If it were deliberate, they would also have censored 'Muslim is' or 'A Muslim is', but both of those produce at least one result.
Moreover, while 'Muslims are' produces no search terms, neither does 'Christians are' or even 'Jews are'.
These considerations suggest that the result is a consequence of the way the program works, and not of a deliberate attempt to censor search suggestions.
Of course, there are some people who leap to an inference based on the single example, without testing other combinations and possibilities is something like a scientific manner...
I'm glad to see someone on the Liblogs picked this up. It's now proof of a huge conspiracy but it's an anomaly that doesn't seem to fit.
Thanks for covering this story.
Downes, you are quite right. It is people like Morton who spread hatred and get hatred in return. Look at this site.
http://snippits-and-slappits.blogspot.com/
Morton is supposed to be an educated person and do better than that but he every so often spews his hatred. Too bad.
I've just tried this feature. Agreed that "Islam is" does not suggest comments, but "Muslim is" does! If Google were defending Islam, they would've censored the latter as well. I suppose the fault lies not with Google but with folks like you (no offences meant). You are hell-bent on finding flaws in everything Islamic, and thus can't seem to digest the fact that Google features have a bug. You'd rather have it that Google, an MNC, wishes to please Muslims.
Unfortunately, it is for views like yours (again, no offences) that religious strife is soaring high nowadays. Worse still, you're gonna guise it in the form of Freedom of Speech, however, I have a feeling you'll be tempted to delete my comment, irrespective of your love for Freedom of Speech.
Apparently, such freedoms only come in handy for critcizing the Islamic people, who, too bad for you, are over one billion strong (and counting). Do you seriously think all of them are lunatics/extremists/militants?
Have a nice day! And sorry if I've offended you.
Try "Muslim is" and you get bugger all. Never a comment like for "Christianity is". This isn't spreading hate. This is noticing cowardice.
http://snippits-and-slappits.blogspot.com/ is a brutally hatefilled site
ma'aseh, I agree and Morton is getting there.
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