Google Campaigns Against Web Censorship
April 22, 2011
The worldwide web could possibly undergo some drastic and even somewhat controversy changes in the future. According to the Ars Technica article “Google: Don’t Give Private Trolls Web Censorship Power” the US government is currently working on legislation in support of Web site blocking at the domain level. If this bill comes to pass it would mean that online ad networks as well as credit card companies would be required to cease working with any site that falls on the blocked list. Eventually, “private companies get the right to bring a censorship action in court without waiting for government to act.” The web giant Google has wasted little time speaking out against this potential bill. Appearing at today’s “Legitimate Sites v. Parasites” hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, Google’s Kent Walker was clear: a private right of action to bring a COICA claim would give rights holders tremendous leverage over Google.
Walker went so far as to warn of “shakedowns” from private companies wanting to force changes in Google’s behavior. Google has been under noted scrutiny due to controversial search results. Google prefers to take a more neutral role and states that it “doesn’t want to be the “judge, jury, and executioner” for Web sites. Finally, the company simply doesn’t know what sites are “authorized” outlets for music and movies, nor when some use is fair. Legislators want to pass a law that allows them to go after anyone who they feel has inappropriate content on their Web site, from child porn to counterfeit products. Though evidence clearly shows that there are questionable sites online, if search results are allowed to be censored, changed or filtered by the wrong people according to a particular guideline, when it comes to search engine results it will become difficult to determine truth versus fiction.
We don’t want to be sticks in the mud. But: If certain content is excluded because it lacks “value”, is that not a form of censorship? Nah, probably not.
April Holmes, April 22, 2011
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