Posted on 07/07/2012 11:42:26 AM PDT by sigzero
Google is censuring information on guns and other products from Google Shopping. Sure, we know they once gave in to the Chinese government, but why are they censoring products used for self-protection by America’s gun owners?
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
EGPWS joins the Bing brigade.
Google "Shopping", unlike Google Search, is a private commercial enterprise. It can display, or not display, shopping results for anything it decides to:
"First, we are starting to transition Google Product Search in the U.S. to a purely commercial model built on Product Listing Ads. This new product discovery experience will be called Google Shopping and the transition will be complete this fall. We believe that having a commercial relationship with merchants will encourage them to keep their product information fresh and up to date."A ban on any given product category is annoying as h3ll, given that Google Shopping is widely used. But I don't think that exercising their rights as a private commercial service to not carry firearm info is "censorship" per se, any more than a vegetarian shopping site that doesn't carry information about where to buy meat.
-- http://googlecommerce.blogspot.com/2012/05/building-better-shopping-experience.html
The Google Search results still carry the full range of info on firearms.
So, NSSF should encourage people to use another shopping service -- there are tons of them. Hit Google where it hurts -- their user base.
(This comment of mine copied from similar prior thread: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2903851/reply?c=11
I don’t think your vegetarian scenario flies. I would not expect to get any meat information from a vegan site. I would expect a search on Google shopping to bring back...whatever product I am search for. Though I agree it is their prerogative to do so, it just seems wrong and like you said annoying as h3ll.
I sent Google an email asking why but have not heard anything back.
Google Search is not censoring info on firearms. Google Shopping is a different, commercial service.
This sort of "article" approaches blog-pimping -- it is looking for page hits based on readers' conflating two separate entities and being outraged.
I’m a great believer in looking at the personal characteristics of the natural characteristics of the majority stockholders, officers ,directors and managers of the corporations attacking the Second Amendment.
Possibly...I can see that angle too.
I just find it odd that Google would not bring back anything on a search for a product like that.
But...I admit, I could be overly paranoid and Google might offer it in the future I guess.
Ironically, Google’s own policy for “Freedom of Expression” says, “We’ve pressed governments to make combating Internet censorship a top priority in human rights and economic agendas.” And they say, “We regularly assist research efforts like the Open Net Initiative, the premier monitor of global trends on Internet censorship, by providing funds for their work.”
Not if, but when the feral government exercises control over Google's contents and business operations and helps itself to millions in corporate assets, the company's highest level managers will probably be stunned. They shouldn't be: when you take pot shots at one right, you weaken them all.
Be sure to also ask why their shopping service "censors" info on vehicles and tobacco, as well as other products.
Truly, this is unfortunate, but hardly a sudden outrage. They get to do as they please.
It is not a Conservative value to try to "force" a private commercial entity to provide something they don't choose to provide. That's what leftists do.
Instead, we get to use another shopping service. Simple. There are a lot of other shopping services.
"...at the personal characteristics of the natural characteristics....." should be changed to "...at the personal characteristics of the natural individuals.."
Sigh! SOB! WEEP!
I trust in the power of the American Free Enterprise system and a free market, to provide alternative services, when others choose to limit themselves and not provide what a segment of the population wants.
This looks to me like an opportunity for a savvy businessman to set up a "Shopping for Firearms" site to fill the gap Google has left.
In fact I'd be surprised if there aren't already such sites....
It should say:
Google ENTHUSIASTICALLY Joins The Anti-Gun Brigade
Google was liberal from day one.
People who think the Bill of Rights is a smörgåsbord they can pick and choose from at no cost are going to be disappointed when they discover the barbarians have seized the restaurant and banished them to the fields with the rest of the serfs.
(whether these are the kind that zombieize you...I don't know.)
While Google may be the most popular, they are not the only source.
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/top_100_alternative_search_engines.php
This is not news. Google is a huge rat supporter.
Google Search is not censoring info on firearms. Google Shopping is a different, commercial service.Nice try. Google is Google and why anyone at FR uses anything related to those Commie loving bastards is beyond me.
“Google is Google and why anyone at FR uses anything related to those Commie loving bastards is beyond me.”
Can say the same thing about Apple. They’re OK, right?
Apple is as bad or worse about privacy. Yet many on FR have no problem with their love of liberalism\socialism.
Hmmm....
My grocery store refuses to sell guns and ammunition.
Blatantly refuses!
They will only advertise\sell certain products and exclude all others. It is their policy to only sell products they wish to, no matter how the community feels.
I no longer support their freedom to run their business how they wish. They must offer all products I’m interested in or they must be destroyed.
Will you join me in boycotting all grocery stores with an anti-gun selling policy?
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