NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Google's Integrity - and Missing the Point of a Story from "In The Plex"
Google's Integrity - and Missing the Point of a Story from "In The Plex"
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000840.html
Greetings. A bunch of people have been sending me the same story
excerpt details from Steven Levy's new book on Google, "In the
Plex," and asking for my comments.
The incident in question, as recounted by the book, relates to Eric
Schmidt, Google CEO (until this Monday, when Larry Page assumes that
role). In brief, the claim is made that Schmidt once requested that
certain Google search results regarding his political contributions be
removed from the Google Search index.
The New York Times says Schmidt denies that the incident ever occurred
( http://j.mp/fWfEUe [New York Times] ).
Obviously, I don't independently know the facts. If the circumstances
described never happened at all, then any related discussion is
essentially meaningless fantasy.
But Google critics are assuming the story is true, and seem to be
conveniently (and perhaps purposely to provide fodder for their
anti-Google campaigns) missing the most important aspect as reported.
For the really noteworthy part of the story isn't a request to remove
search results per se. I get emails almost every single day from
people asking me how to remove search results from Google for all
manner of reasons. My answer is always the same. You can't remove
Google search results on demand -- and that's a damned good thing.
In fact, by far the key point of the story about the claimed removal
request is that it was not accepted, was not approved, and the
supposed results in question remained in the Google Search index.
There are firms where such a request from the CEO would be viewed by
underlings as an order from God, to be obeyed immediately and without
question.
Not so with Google, according to this Levy story. Google comes out
smelling like a rose, its search integrity intact and solid.
Of course, such a point of view is inconvenient for those Google
competitors and others who are desperately attempting to prove that
Google's search algorithms are somehow unfairly rigged. But this saga
says that even Google's CEO couldn't bias the results -- the
algorithms' ethical guardians firmly saying no.
This speaks volumes in favor of Google's institutional integrity and
ethics -- positive attributes that have become all too rare among
large companies of late -- as demonstrated by the near depression
triggered in part by Wall Street greed, for example.
Google isn't perfect. No firm is. But for those critics who insist
that no powerful company is really ever concerned about ethics, or
right and wrong, Levy's tale -- whether true or merely apocryphal --
should be serious food for thought.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein (lauren@vortex.com): http://www.vortex.com/lauren
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org
Founder:
- Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org
- Global Coalition for Transparent Internet Performance: http://www.gctip.org
- PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com
Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
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Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com