Criticism of Google: Difference between revisions

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+Editing Criticism of Google
-[[Google]] has received criticism for various issues.
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-==Copyright issues==
-Organizations have used the [[Digital Millennium Copyright Act]] to demand that Google remove references to allegedly [[copyright]]ed material on other sites.<ref>http://www.technewsworld.com/story/31481.html</ref><ref>http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F02E5D7103FF931A15757C0A9649C8B63</ref> Google typically handles this by removing the link as requested and including a link to the complaint in the search results.
+*This is an automated created text by [[ClueBot]].
-There have also been complaints that Google's [[Web cache]] feature [[copyright infringement|violates copyright]].<ref>http://www.news.com/2100-1038_3-1024234.html</ref> However, Google provides mechanisms for requesting that caching be disabled. Google also honors the [[robots.txt]] file, which is another mechanism that allows operators of a website to request that part or all of their site not be included in search engine results. The U.S. District Court of Nevada ruled that Google's caches do not constitute copyright infringement under [[United States copyright law|American law]] in ''Field v. Google'' and ''Parker v. Google''.<ref>[http://www.eff.org/IP/blake_v_google/google_nevada_order.pdf Case No. CV-S-04-0413-RCJ-LRL]. ''[[United States District Court]] (District of Nevada]].'' Filed on [[January 19]], [[2006]]. Retrieved on [[July 7]], [[2006]].</ref><ref>[http://www.paed.uscourts.gov/documents/opinions/06D0306P.pdf Case No. 04-CV-3918]. ''[[United States District Court]] (Eastern District of Pennsylvania]].'' [[March 10]], [[2006]]. Retrieved on [[July 7]], [[2006]].</ref>
-On [[September 20]], [[2005]], the [[Authors Guild]], a group that represents 8,000 U.S. authors, filed a class action suit in federal court in Manhattan against Google over its unauthorized scanning and copying of books through its Google Library program. Google states that it is in compliance with all existing and historical applications of copyright laws regarding books.<ref>{{cite web |first=China |last=Martin |url=http://www.infoworld.nl/idgns/bericht.phtml?id=00256F6C005C22FC0025709F006132F6 |title=Google hit with second lawsuit over Library project
-|publisher=[[InfoWorld]] |date=2007-11-26}}</ref> The publicized contract between Google and the University of Michigan makes it clear that Google will provide only excerpts of copyright text in a search. The contract says that it will comply with "[[fair use]]", an exemption in copyright law that allows people to reproduce portions of text of copyrighted material for research purposes.
-==Privacy==
-===North America===
-Critics{{Who|date=April 2008}} have pointed out the dangers and privacy implications of having a centrally-located, widely popular data warehouse of millions of Internet users' searches, and how under controversial existing U.S. law, Google can be forced to hand over all such information to the [[Federal government of the United States|U.S. government]]. In early 2005, the [[United States Department of Justice]] filed a motion in federal court to force Google to comply with a subpoena for, "the text of each search string entered onto Google's search engine over a one-week period (absent any information identifying the person who entered such query)."<ref name="DOJsubpeona">"[http://www.google.com/press/images/subpoena_20060317.pdf ACLU v. Alberto R. Gonzales]." ''[[United States District Court]] (Northern District of California).'' [[August 25]], [[2005]]. Retrieved on [[April 13]], [[2007]].</ref> Google fought the subpoena, due to concerns about users' privacy.<ref name="googlesubpeona">Wong, Nicole. "[http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/02/response-to-doj-motion.html Response to the DOJ Motion]." ''Google.'' [[{February 17]], [[2006]]. Retrieved on [[April 13]], [[2007]].</ref> In March 2006, the court ruled partially in Google's favor, recognizing the privacy implications of turning over search terms and refusing to grant access.<ref name="broache">Broache, Anne. "[http://news.com.com/Judge+Google+must+give+feds+limited+access+to+records/2100-1028_3-6051257.html Judge: Google must give feds limited access to records]." ''[[CNET]].'' [[March 17]], [[2006]]. Retrieved on [[April 13]], [[2007]].</ref>
-Some users{{Who|date=October 2007}} believe the processing of email message content by Google's [[Gmail]] service goes beyond proper use. Google claims that mail sent to or from Gmail is never read by a human being beyond the account holder, and is only used to improve relevance of advertisements.<ref>[http://www.google.com/privacypolicy.html Google Privacy Center - Privacy Policy<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Other popular email services such as [[Hotmail]] also scan incoming email to try to determine whether it is unsolicited spam email (which Gmail also does), but do not scan emails to improve relevancy of advertisements.{{Fact|date=October 2007}}
-Google's online map service, "Street View" has been accused{{Who|date=October 2007}} of taking pictures and coming too close inside people's private homes and/or people who walk down the street not knowing they are being watched on Google's service.
-In its 2007 Consulation Report, [[Privacy International]] ranked Google as "Hostile to Privacy", its lowest rating on their report, making Google the only company in the list to achieve that ranking.<ref>[http://www.privacyinternational.org/issues/internet/interimrankings.pdf Privacy International 2007 Consulation Report]</ref>
-===European Union===
-[[European Union]] ([[EU]]) data protection officials (The [[Directive 95/46/EC on the protection of personal data|Article 29]] working party who advise the EU on privacy policy) have written to Google asking the company to justify its policy of keeping information on individuals’ internet searches for up to two years. The letter questioned whether Google has “fulfilled all the necessary requirements” on the EU laws concerning data protection.<ref>"EU probes Google grip on data" (Accessed 26-May-2007) [http://www.ft.com/cms/s/dc89ec96-0a24-11dc-93ae-000b5df10621.html]</ref> The probe by the EU into the data protection issue, as of 24 May, 2007 is continuing. On 1 June Google admitted its privacy policy is vague, and that they are constantly working at making it clearer to users.<ref>"[http://www.directtraffic.org/OnlineNews/Google_admits_privacy_policy_is_vague_with_EU_Probe_looming_200755164941.html Google admits privacy policy is vague] with EU Probe looming" (Accessed 01-June-2007) [http://www.directtraffic.org/OnlineNews/Google_admits_privacy_policy_is_vague_with_EU_Probe_looming_200755164941.html]</ref>
-===Norway===
-The Data Inspectorate of Norway (Norway is not a member of the [[EU]]) has investigated Google (and others) and has stated that the 18- to 24-month period for retaining data proposed by Google was too long.<ref>"Google Data on Users May Break EU Law, Watchdog Says" (Accessed 26-May-2007) [http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=agImLlGaNKaw&refer=home]</ref>
-==PageRank==
-Google's [[PageRank]] algorithm has also been criticized. Common arguments are that the system is unfairly biased towards large web sites thus entrenching [[systemic bias]], and that the criteria for a page's importance are not subject to [[peer review]]. PageRank is a largely automated system, making it impartial and without personal bias. However, Google's system also relies on a certain degree of human oversight (for example, human evaluation of PageRank known as [[Rater Hub Google]]), and use of company names on Adwords {{Fact|date=June 2007}}. Furthermore, the deletion of critical sites from Google results (for example, sites critical of [[Scientology]]<ref name='Wired article'> {{cite web|url=http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2002/03/51233 |title=Google Yanks Anti-Church Sites |accessdate=2007-04-16 |last=McCullagh |first= Declan |date=2002-02-21 |work=Wired }}</ref>) is decided by individual human beings{{Fact|date=February 2008}} according to company policy for dealing with legal complaints. It remains unclear whether any process could assert the importance of a page in a way that would draw less criticism than the current PageRank system.
-In September 2007, the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (ACCC) has brought a two-pronged case against Trading Post and Google - including subsidiaries Google Australia and Google Ireland - for potentially misleading consumers by selling its rankings to commercial companies rather than sorting them by relevance.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=[[International Herald Tribune]] |url=http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/07/13/business/AS-TEC-Australia-Google.php |title=Australian consumer watchdog files action against Google Inc. |date=2007-07-13}}</ref>
-==Search within search==
-For some search results, Google provides a secondary search box within search page that enables the user to find what they are looking for within a particular website.  This idea originated from the way users were searching.  According to software engineer Ben Lee and Product Manager Jack Menzel, “teleporting” on the web is what helps Google users to complete their search.  Google took this concept a step further and instead of just “teleporting”, which means users need only to type part of the name of a website into Google (no need to remember the entire URL) in order to find the correct site, users could type in keywords to search within the website of their choice.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.ecommercetimes.com/rsstory/62270.html?welcome=1206452899|title="Google's Search-Within-Search Draws Scutiny"|author=Regan, Keith|publisher=E-Commerce Times|date=2008-03-24}}</ref> It appeared that users were often not finding exactly what they needed while trying to explore within a company site.
-Although this is an innovative search tool for users, it sparked some controversy among some online publishers and retailers.  Google SERPs display PPC ads from rival companies, which sell ads against brands.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.searchengineoptimizationjournal.com/2008/03/24/why-companies-are-upset-about-googles-search-within-search/|title="Why Companies Are Upset With Google's Search-Within-Search"|author=Stamoulis, Nick|publisher=Search Engine Optimization Journal|date=2008-24-03}}</ref> “While the service could help increase traffic, some users could be siphoned away as Google uses the prominence of the brands to sell ads, typically to competing companies.”<ref name=timesws>{{cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/24/business/media/24ecom.html|title=A New Tool From Google Alarms Sites|author=Tedeschi, Bob|publisher=New York Times|date=2008-03-24}}</ref> In order to combat this controversy, Google has offered to turn off this feature for those companies who request to have it removed.<ref name=timesws/>
-==Digital rights management==
-Announced on [[January 6]], [[2006]] at the CES in [[Las Vegas, Nevada]], the [[Google Video]] store began selling copyrighted content at the Google Video website. Initially, this service was restricted to the United States and certain other countries. To protect copyright of some video programming, Google created a Google DRM ([[Digital Rights Management]]) lock for certain paid content, which caused concern regarding user privacy.<ref>Felten, Ed. "[http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/?p=956 Google Video and Privacy]." ''[http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/ freedom-to-tinker.com] (personal [[blog]]).'' [[January 20]], [[2006]].</ref>
-On [[2007-08-15]] Google discontinued its DTO/DTR (download-to-own/rent) program.  Videos which had been previously purchased under that program, as a result of the embedded DRM licenses being revoked, are no longer viewable despite being purchased for ownership; however, a credit to a user's Google Checkout account is available.<ref>[[Cory Doctorow]], "[http://www.boingboing.net/2007/08/10/google-video-robs-cu.html Google Video robs customers of the videos they "own"]." ''[http://www.boingboing.net/ boingboing.net] [[2007-08-10]].</ref><ref>[[John C. Dvorak]], "[http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2170676,00.asp Google Pulls Plug, Everyone Misses Point]". ''[http://www.pcmag.com/ PC Magazine (online)].'' [[2007-08-14]].</ref>
-==Energy consumption==
-Google has been criticized for the high amount of energy necessary to maintain its servers and concerns over whether they use [[clean energy]], despite the fact that the roofs at its Mountain View facilities are covered with solar panels.<ref> [http://www.harpers.org/media/slideshow/annot/2008-03/index.html Keyword: Evil] Harpers Magazine, March 2008</ref>
-==See also==
-* [[Google]]
-* [[Censorship by Google]]
-* [[Don't be evil]]
-* [[History of Google]]
-* [[Google Watch]]
-==References==
-<!-- This article uses [[Wikipedia:Footnotes]]. When inserting references, please use this format. -->
-<div class="references-small">
-<references/>
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-==External links==
-*[http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2144974,00.asp Privacy Group Flunks Google, ''eWeek.com'']
-*[http://www.economist.com/opinion/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=9725272 The Economist, "Who's afraid of Google?" from Aug 30th 2007]
-{{Google Inc.}}
-[[Category:Google]]
-[[Category:Criticisms of companies|Google]]
-[[fr:Critique de Google]]