NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Rick Santorum's "Google Problem" back in the spotlight
Rick Santorum's "Google Problem" back in the spotlight Since I discussed this issue in some depth back in late September ( Santorum, Google, and Colbert - http://j.mp/qU6v8K [Lauren's Blog] ), I don't really want to spend a lot of time on it again now, but I thought it worth noting that with Rick Santorum's sudden (but likely short-lived) rise in the GOP presidential nomination circus, I've been getting a bunch of notes and some calls asking about the continuing Santorum search results controversy. As far as I'm concerned, nothing of significance has changed. Santorum's site is ranking lower than the "protest" site in question (for most searchers anyway, it seems) for purely organic reasons. New demands that Google should "special case" in this instance, or that the owner of the protest site should be required to take it down, should all be rejected. One other thing. I got a note speculating that the protest site operator should be sued for "libeling" Santorum. I'm not a lawyer, but I don't see how libel could possibly apply in this case. The U.S. at least has a long history of political satire, just take a look at some of the really, seriously "nasty" political cartoons and drawings that go back to the dawn of the country! The protest site in question is not suggesting that Rick Santorum is a child molester, crushes kittens, or would want to ban contraception. (And in fact, of these three, only the last one is true.) The best way for Santorum to have the top ranked natural search result for his name is to have a better site. Of course, too much effort on this might be something of a waste, given that Santorum is not going to be the GOP nominee under any circumstances. Interesting times. --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 Google+: http://vortex.com/g+lauren Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com _______________________________________________ nnsquad mailing list http://lists.nnsquad.org/mailman/listinfo/nnsquad