Comments on: Google and Orwell? Come on, people http://www.mathewingram.com/work/2006/02/06/google-and-orwell-come-on-people/ ... at the intersection of media, technology, business and the web Wed, 03 Dec 2008 23:19:42 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: House Insurance http://www.mathewingram.com/work/2006/02/06/google-and-orwell-come-on-people/#comment-210564 House Insurance Tue, 23 Jan 2007 07:31:55 +0000 http://www.mathewingram.com/work/index.php/2006/02/06/google-and-orwell-come-on-people/#comment-210564 <strong>House Insurance...</strong> stupor?investigators,attracts heedlessly House Insurance [url=http://www.onhouseinsurance.com/#]House Insurance[/url] http://www.onhouseinsurance.com/# ... House Insurance…

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]]> By: Dan Williamson http://www.mathewingram.com/work/2006/02/06/google-and-orwell-come-on-people/#comment-323 Dan Williamson Tue, 07 Feb 2006 15:29:35 +0000 http://www.mathewingram.com/work/index.php/2006/02/06/google-and-orwell-come-on-people/#comment-323 BMW's marketing / pr dept must be jumping for joy - they've pretty much received global publicity for their used car operations, a division which (in my opinion) has relatively little visibility. All for free. Wonder if anyone else will try to get 'banned' from Google? BMW’s marketing / pr dept must be jumping for joy - they’ve pretty much received global publicity for their used car operations, a division which (in my opinion) has relatively little visibility. All for free.

Wonder if anyone else will try to get ‘banned’ from Google?

]]> By: Mathew http://www.mathewingram.com/work/2006/02/06/google-and-orwell-come-on-people/#comment-322 Mathew Tue, 07 Feb 2006 12:28:41 +0000 http://www.mathewingram.com/work/index.php/2006/02/06/google-and-orwell-come-on-people/#comment-322 Scott: Thanks for the response. I would agree that the high-handed and somewhat self-righteous attitude Google has shown towards BMW is worthy of criticism, and they could probably have handled it better. And your point about Animal Farm is well taken. But I still think seeing dark portents in what Google has done is overdoing it just a tad. After all, Google doesn't even have 50 per cent of the search market -- excluding a single site is hardly a death sentence. If you had used the Orwell reference after Google's China decision, I might have actually agreed with you there. I think the slippery slope is a lot steeper when it comes to that kind of thing, and the potential "evil" much greater. Anyway, glad to have your input as always. Scott:

Thanks for the response. I would agree that the high-handed and
somewhat self-righteous attitude Google has shown towards BMW is
worthy of criticism, and they could probably have handled it better.
And your point about Animal Farm is well taken.

But I still think seeing dark portents in what Google has done is
overdoing it just a tad. After all, Google doesn’t even have 50 per
cent of the search market — excluding a single site is hardly a death
sentence.

If you had used the Orwell reference after Google’s China decision, I
might have actually agreed with you there. I think the slippery slope
is a lot steeper when it comes to that kind of thing, and the
potential “evil” much greater.

Anyway, glad to have your input as always.

]]> By: Slava Sakhnenko http://www.mathewingram.com/work/2006/02/06/google-and-orwell-come-on-people/#comment-321 Slava Sakhnenko Tue, 07 Feb 2006 06:47:52 +0000 http://www.mathewingram.com/work/index.php/2006/02/06/google-and-orwell-come-on-people/#comment-321 Hehe, clearly Karp is trying to game memeorandum with these childish hysterics... either that or he's a total nut if the fact that Google is blocking the kind of sites that ruin search results for all of us is "keeping him awake at night" Scott, <em>don't let the bedbugs bite</em>. Hehe, clearly Karp is trying to game memeorandum with these childish hysterics… either that or he’s a total nut if the fact that Google is blocking the kind of sites that ruin search results for all of us is “keeping him awake at night”

Scott, don’t let the bedbugs bite.

]]> By: Scott Karp http://www.mathewingram.com/work/2006/02/06/google-and-orwell-come-on-people/#comment-320 Scott Karp Tue, 07 Feb 2006 05:09:26 +0000 http://www.mathewingram.com/work/index.php/2006/02/06/google-and-orwell-come-on-people/#comment-320 Mathew, if this is such a "ridiculous" issue, then why are you posting about it? And why did Danny Sullivan post a 6-point "apology" for Google on my site? It would indeed be inflammatory to suggest that Google is "totally corrupt" -- clearly, it's not, and I didn't say that -- I was "wondering," not declaring. Yes, Google doesn't have "total" power over search, but they do have total power over all the traffic they do control. When I say that Google appears to be behaving in an Orwellian fashion, it is judgment about their tone, not about fairness, morality, or legality -- at least not yet. I can only hope you are right in your separating Google's actions from "something really meaningful." Orwell's lesson (I'm thinking here of Animal Farm, not 1984) is that the slippery slope doesn't begin with "a boot stamping on a human face." Each step in the descent can be written off as benign. If you can sleep well on this, then sweet dreams. But it's still keeping me awake at night. Mathew, if this is such a “ridiculous” issue, then why are you posting about it? And why did Danny Sullivan post a 6-point “apology” for Google on my site?

It would indeed be inflammatory to suggest that Google is “totally corrupt” — clearly, it’s not, and I didn’t say that — I was “wondering,” not declaring. Yes, Google doesn’t have “total” power over search, but they do have total power over all the traffic they do control.

When I say that Google appears to be behaving in an Orwellian fashion, it is judgment about their tone, not about fairness, morality, or legality — at least not yet.

I can only hope you are right in your separating Google’s actions from “something really meaningful.”

Orwell’s lesson (I’m thinking here of Animal Farm, not 1984) is that the slippery slope doesn’t begin with “a boot stamping on a human face.” Each step in the descent can be written off as benign.

If you can sleep well on this, then sweet dreams. But it’s still keeping me awake at night.

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