Banned by Google

Your cyberworld at war

Published on February 23, 2006 By Evorg In Internet

As of 23 February 2006, SpaceWar.com is banned by Google Inc.

SpaceWar.com is a respected news site covering military related space activities for the international aerospace community. SpaceWar.com is part of the SpaceDaily.com domain, along with TerraDaily, MarsDaily, SpaceMart, SinoDaily, and SpaceTravel which is owned by Space. TV Corp. Contributing news feeds come from AFP, UPI, and SPX.

The reasons for the ban by Google Inc. are unclear. No communication by Google prior to the ban was given to Space, TV Corp. Google has not responded to requests for comments. Space. TV Corp is talking with legal advisors from the United States and Australia where the Web sites are based. Space. TV Corp views the ban as a violation of the US-Australia Free Trade Agreement.

It will be interesting to see the response from Google, and to be fair I’d like to hear why Google imposed the ban. However, I've always felt that trying to control legal content on the internet is a dangerous precedent to set. So I'm more inclined to think that there are other reasons for the ban than content. It's just a little surprising that a respected news site was banned by Google.

Comments (Page 2)

Adamness

on Feb 27, 2006

Google reminds me of that company Homer went to work for in 'The Simpsons.' I forget most of the specifics, but the company treated it's employees great, and before the attempt to take over the world, and the siege by the government, they were just a good company.

Art imitates life, or life imitates art?

...The Simpsons can be considered art, right?

starkers

on Feb 27, 2006

no kidding... last time i checked, all for-profit companies were self-serving, and rightly so. companies are founded to make money, and that's what google has done. would you own a company and act outside of your financial interests?

Profit making was not necssarily my point, as all companies must profit or perish. My point relates more to the integrity of Google, which to me, is suspect at best.
I would not be the only one questioning this, either. Several here in the forums have expressed concerns regarding Googles use of advertising in Gmail, not to mention its under the radar tactics that MS/Apple would get publicly crucified for.
Google's entry into China, bowing to their censorship restrictions is more than suggestive that 'IT' would sacrifice truth and honesty for a buck from anywhere and everywhere....and that makes for a dangerous company when profit motivation far exceeds ethics and reputable business dealings.

joetheblow

on Feb 27, 2006

Yeah... it would seem that Google is loosing some of its flare. The China thing causes some problems and they didn't exactly argue that somehow going in is better than nothing at all very well (personally, I am the type to say that you have to be INVOLVED in order to change so I guess I would have dealt with China too if I was Google in order to spead information even if much of it is silenced).

I do think in the end having big search companies with a possibility of using their influence to change how things are done is better than say a local company borne of China who would have no such thought process.

So I have to give some credit to Google for going in, but it is still suspect until they show what influence they will push for in the future. I am well aware of the irony of Google not giving the US goverment information while giving China anything its wants.

Iben

on Feb 27, 2006

~
Next they will be banning wallpaper.
Oh,

that has already been taken care of.
~

Jafo

on Feb 27, 2006

If all Google was doing was selling cars to a huge market and making a crap-load of money in the process then bully for them...it's the Great Capitalist Ethos, afterall.

The trouble is they are in the business of profitting from INFORMATION...and shed nary-a-tear when they decided to agree to adjusting that INFORMATION to suit the altered-reality of a government out of step with the West's feeble notion of What-Is-Right.

So....

Information is "altered" through selective filtering......to what end?

Some noble ethos?

No.

To get a toe-hold into the biggest country/market/sucker-for-advertising that there is on the planet.

And they are JUST soo clever .....Gmail ...the willingness of the gullible to GLADLY accept profiling/spam/data-intrusion-for-the-benefit-of-advertisers.

Google couldn't even SPELL 'Nobul Profession' or 'Effix'....

starkers

on Feb 28, 2006

The trouble is they are in the business of profitting from INFORMATION..

To get a toe-hold into the biggest country/market/sucker-for-advertising that there is on the planet.

Yep,that's exactly what it's all about....not servicing the Chinese but rifling their wallets/pockets/purses. Given that much of Google's revenue is derived from advertising sources, the 'infomation' obviously has a price.
The worrying part is when governments and their agencies become highest bidders to information regarding 'who' does what, when and where.
Governments are notorious for axing services and cutting back on resources, based on market research figures, etc....so it'd be an even scarier prospect if Google were to provide information allowing further cuts to public services.

If Googles databanks were kept for actual service provision, I'd not have such an issue with it, but all this information is collected and stored to serve only Google and its advertising associates...the goodies they throw in our direction are mere enticements to 'sucker thee unto them'

bakerstreet

on Mar 01, 2006

Not to play devil's advocate or anything, but businesses are often banned for padding their popularity in various ways like google bombing, etc. I remember about a week ago seeing some BIG businesses that had gotten caught doing it. I think BMW Germany was one. Not saying that this is the case here, but Google doesn't always block sites just based upon censorship. Most often they do it because of such abuses.

I have, though, seen at least one search I did come up with a DMCA link at the bottom that said some results had been blocked because of violations of such. Lots of things are going on with them, and many are dubious. Not saying they arent' being evil, just saying that they aren't ALWAYS evil.

P.S. when i type 'spacewar', that site comes up as the #1 hit. When you say banned, what do you mean? They don't seem to be delisted.

spudnut

on Mar 01, 2006

I dig Google completely. I am totally plugged in to Google. Google tool bar is the best IE plug in ever. Gmail, Google Earth, Google desktop, I got it all.
I ain't afraid o' no Google.

Evorg

on Mar 01, 2006

P.S. when i type 'spacewar', that site comes up as the #1 hit. When you say banned, what do you mean? They don't seem to be delisted.

http://www.spacewar.com/Google_Bans_Australian_Based_Military_Space_News_Website.html

I don't think it was because they were using a black hat optimizer like BMW did. It was probably all over Google AdSense contextual ads.

Jafo

on Mar 01, 2006

I dig Google completely. I am totally plugged in to Google. Google tool bar is the best IE plug in ever. Gmail, Google Earth, Google desktop, I got it all.
I ain't afraid o' no Google.

In Australia in particular, 'spudnut' would translate as 'potato head' ...so, not to put too fine a point on it but.....your not being 'afraid' is quite predictable....

starkers

on Mar 01, 2006

In Australia in particular, 'spudnut' would translate as 'potato head' ...so, not to put too fine a point on it but.....your not being 'afraid' is quite predictable...

Can't remember the movie the quote comes from off-hand....but he should 'be afraid, be very afraid' of Google...cos me thinks those who don't fear it will get burnt most at the end of the day. It's not so much what they put in your system when installing their products and services, but more what they take and store in the way of personal information......

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