Google & Censorship in the U.S.

Google Inc. regularly removes certain content from its search results for U.S. users, an action that sometimes garners accusations that the company applies different standards to different types of content. Google reportedly has blocked items related to digital media piracy from some of its search functions because of pressure from the entertainment industry. In addition, Google also keeps pornographic and potentially illegal activities from appearing in search results.

Digital Media

In December 2010, Taylor Hackford, president of the Directors Guild of America, described Google as an “enabler” of online piracy and for making money from websites offering illegal file-sharing, according to an article in Variety. In January 2011, TechCrunch reported that Google had instituted a policy of “soft censorship” related to two types of search functions offered by Google that help searchers quickly find common results: the “autocomplete” and “instant search” functions. TechCrunch explained that, for instance, Google would no longer autocomplete or trigger an instant search for file-sharing websites such as BitTorrent, Rapidshare and Megaupload. However, if users typed out each of those words in a query, the websites would appear in a search.

Criticism

In a January 2011 article published in The Atlantic, Eli Rosenberg wrote that Google’s censorship efforts appeared to be arbitrary. Despite removing illegal file-sharing sites from searches, Google still gave searchers help in finding information about potential criminal activities. For instance, when typing "how to make a bomb" in the search bar, Google’s autocomplete feature would suggest "out of household items," according to Rosenberg.

Data Removal

According to Google’s Transparency Report, the company regularly receives requests from governments and courts worldwide to remove certain types of content from its search results, including pages related to allegations of defamation. The company also removes from its results content that violates laws prohibiting hate speech or pornography. For instance, between July 2010 and December 2010, Google removed from Google Groups 1,110 items related to a case of “continuous defamation” against an unnamed U.S. man and his family.

U.S. Government

In April 2010, Google unveiled a tool that allowed users to see country-by-country requests for the removal of data from its search results. The tool also showed Google’s compliance rate with each country’s requests for data removal. According to a Christian Science Monitor article, the U.S. government made 123 requests for data removal, mostly for results in YouTube in the second half of 2009. Google complied with 80 percent of the requests, according to the Monitor.

Considerations

At a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee in April 2011, Google’s General Counsel, Kent Walker, said that it’s difficult for Google to censor all websites offering unlicensed content. Some sites, such as The Pirate Bay, feature some legal and legitimate material, and Google doesn’t want to be the “judge, jury and executioner” for those sites, Walker said, according to an Ars Technica article.

References

• The Atlantic: What Does Google's Subtle Censorship Say About Us?
• Christian Science Monitor: U.S., Brazil Lead Google's Top 10 Censorship List; China Off the Chart
• TechCrunch: Google Begins Soft Censorship Of Arbitrary Piracy-Related Queries
• Google Transparency Report: Government Requests
• Variety: Hackford Blames Google for Enabling Piracy
• Ars Technica: Google -- Don't Give Private "Trolls" Web Censorship Power