You googled your name one boring day just to check what pages and links and pictures will show when your names is searched. To your sheer surprise, hate blogs and pages which you don't want possible employers see appear on top of the search results. You panic and you should. Can you ask Google to remove that result?
To illustrate: When you search the name Michelle Obama, you may be directed to a results page where there's a picture of her that was edited so that she would look like a monkey in formal attire.
I searched for Google Webmasters Guidelines and Google's Terms of Service just to check how one can ask for a remedy for results like this. In one website, it reads, "Google Buys Search Ad For Offensive Michelle Obama Image Result" and apologized for the offensive search results, to wit:
"Although Google reserves the right to address such requests individually, Google views the integrity of our search results as an extremely important priority. Accordingly, we do not remove a page from our search results simply because its content is unpopular or because we receive complaints concerning it. We will, however, remove pages from our results if we believe the page (or its site) violates our Webmaster Guidelines, if we believe we are required to do so by law, or at the request of the webmaster who is responsible for the page."
Google said, "We Don't Change Search Results For "Political Reasons", and it sure shouldn't but it really didn't offer remedies that a person may avail of when confronted with other reasons other than political. It didn't even direct the readers to a link where Google users can report. But should it? In my search for a remedy, I stumbled upon this Google site where you can report websites which you think is a spammer. You just have to fill out the form. You may also report through this websites that copy your content, photos, images, etc without proper attribution. But in the specified reasons for reporting, there is no option to report a website because the content is offensive. But then, what standards do you apply to this? Will hate legislation for example, which is implemented in some countries, be invoked to challenge the validity of a certain result pages? Will implementation be considered a curtailment of freedom of speech? Can you attack the algorithm used?
The anatomy of a search engine for me is complicated. Maybe because I don't understand algorithm too much. But when I think about the legal repercussions of this issue, I am tempted to research on it and make it a topic for my SLR, because in my humble opinion there should be a remedy--whether you are in the Philippines or in South Africa. But I have other topics to choose from. I will let Dean Carlota decide.
Tip: Before you go out on a date, google your suitor first.
Paulyn Duman
Blog#5
Other links:
Google Basic
How does Google know a website exists?
Other blogs:
IMHO: Digitized sins are forgiven
IMHO: UP College of Law should improve its cellphone signal reception
IMHO: Media diet is good for students and teachers
IMHO: Knowledge about technology and neurotransmitters can help improve your relationships
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