By David Becker, 7 April 2004 09:10
NEWS Search site Google has been drawn into a controversy during the week of Passover over a search listing that directs viewers to an anti-Semitic site when they enter the keyword "Jew."
The dispute began several weeks ago when Steven Weinstock, a New York real estate investor and former yeshiva student, did a Google search on "Jew." The first site returned was Jew Watch, a site filled with short articles focusing on alleged Jewish conspiracies and other anti-Semitic topics, with headings such as "Jewish Controlled Press" and "Jewish Mind Control Mechanisms." The administrator of Jew Watch did not respond to an email message requesting comment.
Weinstock has launched an online petition asking Google to remove the site from its index. He said that if Google receives 50,000 requests to remove the site, it will comply. As of late Tuesday, the petition had about 2,800 signatures.
"Google is the No. 1 search site, and the fact that the first search result would yield an anti-Semitic site is all too common in a growing era of increased anti-Semitism," he wrote in his introduction to the petition.
Google spokesman David Krane said the company's search results are determined by a complex set of algorithms that measure factors such as how many sites link to a given page. The company can't and won't change the ranking for Jew Watch, regardless of how many signatures the petition attracts.
"Google's search results are solely determined by computer algorithms that essentially reflect the popular opinion of the Web," he said. "Our search results are not manipulated by hand. We're not able to make any manual changes to the results."
Krane said the ranking for Jew Watch is largely based on changing vocabulary patterns. "Jew" has been used less and less in mainstream society since Word War II, replaced by less culturally loaded terms such as "Jewish person." Google searches for "Jewish," "Jewish person" and "Jewish people" are all topped by pro-Jewish sites, including a number of Jewish dating services.
That's still not good enough for another online organisation, however, which has launched its own effort to push Jew Watch off Google via "Google bombing," a technique that exploits Google's search methodology of basing rankings on how many sites link to a given page. Daniel Sieradski, through his influential blog Jewschool, is urging visitors to pepper any sites they control with links to the entry on "Jew" in online encyclopedia Wikipedia.
Numerous other Google bombing campaigns, ranging from pranks to a serious attempt to raise awareness of slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, have emerged since Google began dominating the search market.
Krane said he wasn't familiar with the Jewschool campaign, but Google typically discourages such tactics to manipulate search results.
Comments
There are 11 comments. Join the discussion
1. Mr. Plum
It is sick to see such blunt encroachment on our freedom of speech! Let the web determine the ranking, not some lawyer!
2. Mr. Bojangles
Google can't be held responsible for what an algorithm determines to be the most relevant result for a particular subject.
3. Andrew Olson
It also seems like suing Google is akin to suing a window for showing you something unpleasant. It seems a more reasonable course would have been to sue Jew Watch... Even if they can somehow force Google to remove or rerank the Jew Watch site, that site and the people who frequent it are still going to exist.
4. James
Last I checked the Internet was a huge library of the world, the good, bad and the ugly. What if some college student wanted to do a paper on anti-Semitism?
That's ludricrous. People, and obviously some Jews, need to stop harrassing others who don't share their views. Anti-anything just because of an ethic or cultural background is stupid, but it still shouldn't be kept from the public. People need to know about this stuff.
Thank god this is not the majority of the Jewish community, just some fringe whackos with too much time on their hands. This P.C. stuff is getting out of hand.
5. anonymous
Having studied the history of Judaism; I naturally do not blame the Jewish people for becoming hyper sensitive to prejudice and discrimination issues. In this particular case however I find this petition to have Google remove the jewwatch.com from their listing; completely unreasonable. Sounds like a hoax if you ask me...
6. anonymous
it is disgusting and so sad that the number one site when the word Jew is typed in comes up as this antisemitic hateful website. why do people like this hate so much. Why are they so angry? were they taught this at home? Do they teach it to their children. I am Jewish and I was taught love and tolerance from my parents and that is what I teach my children. It is very hard for me to explain to them why these ignorant peole are so hateful towards them, becuase I don't understand it myself.
7. anonymous
The fact that Jew Watch is #1 says a lot. It means that it has been linked by many, many other web pages.
I have found, for example, that whenever I was dubious about someone's claim about Israeli policies, Israeli leaders' statements, Jews, or anything related to Jews, 9 times out of 10 when I searched for that quote on Jew Watch it was there. And yet those quotes came from supposedly legitimate sources.
8. dan
Has anyone done a Google search on "miserable failure"??? The first link is for George Bush. Perhaps if Bush suggested doubling their income taxes then Google would start fixing their search algorithms so they won't be manipulated.
9. anonymous
You're all right. Yes, "removing" Jew Watch goes too far. It needs to be placed in the ranking for what it is . . . a fringe component of the topic. Frankly, do not believe "our algorithms did it" approach. It may be that Google's technolgy was hacked. Also, Google's technology is dynamic, not static. With this many diguntled users, Google can and should review its technology to see whether it is working correctly.
10. anonymous
Jewish are certainly free to learn about search engine optimization and take the #1 spot.
Why complain and whine if you can do something about it?
11. Apache
Where's the petition to leave freedom of speech (i.e., Jew Watch) in place.
Naturally, anything that is counter- jewish interest is labeled anti-semetic.
If you would like to sign a useful petition sigh, then sign the petition to reopen the investigation on the USS Liberty that was stifled by the government and pro-Israeli factions.