Don’t be Google

by on June 20, 2009 25

Items:
--Google AdSense ads disappear from this site without adequate explanation.
--In a "disturbing trend," videos critical of Israel disappear from YouTube without adequate explanation. YouTube is owned by Google.
--Go back in time... Walt and Mearsheimer's talk at the Googleplex was canceled. [Steve Walt: we were scheduled to speak at Google Headquarters here in Mountain View, California.. Pur publicist got an email the previous Friday late in the afternoon that the event had been cancelled and didn’t give us an explanation... We were subsequently told that the decision had been made 'very high up in the company,' and the Google representative said they had never seen an event like this get cancelled like the way they did. They said they would be interested in possibly rescheduling us, but we’ve never been able to reschedule the event, so clearly, it’s not going to happen."]
["Don't be evil" is the informal corporate motto of Google. This post is based entirely on a note from Brian Dana Akers.]

About Philip Weiss

Philip Weiss is Founder and Co-Editor of Mondoweiss.net.
Posted in Beyondoweiss, Israel Lobby

{ 25 comments... read them below or add one }

  1. ahmed says:
    June 20, 2009 at 8:18 pm

    Boycott google?

  2. Tuyzentfloot says:
    June 20, 2009 at 8:27 pm

    Or do the complete opposite of boycotting google. Search for the words 'google boycotts mondoweiss' till it start showing up in their statistics :)

  3. seafoid says:
    June 20, 2009 at 8:36 pm

    Don't be evil is inane for a corp that is in the top global 100. It's akin to asserting that the US is interested in global freedom.

  4. CrazyWisdom says:
    June 20, 2009 at 8:51 pm

    when google started they were very idealistic and the phrase don't be evil fitted in with that. now they are part of the establishment and "don't be evil" is just a slogan. it's really now "don't be evil***" *** unless it affects our big stash of $$$

  5. ahmed says:
    June 20, 2009 at 9:15 pm

    Google Founders’ Ultimate Perk: A NASA Runway http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/13/technology/13go...

  6. Osiris says:
    June 20, 2009 at 9:34 pm

    Before Google went public they could have adhered to their asinine slogan. But, having gone public, they quickly discovered that the shareholders are, in fact, pure evil.

  7. Citizen says:
    June 20, 2009 at 9:48 pm

    What do we know about those individuals who control Google? All facts are needed. Anyone? If what is learned is not ostensibly evidence of neutral individuals, it's time then to start moving to a different search engine. I bet there are some small competitors who are willing to be more unbiased, if that's what our inquiry shows is needed. Whoever knows details about the current individuals in control of Google, please give us your information. Thanks.

  8. Jeff Redding says:
    June 20, 2009 at 9:50 pm

    One idea would be to picket in front of their offices in Mountain View… tell the local media, remind all those Googlers they're in fact part of a nasty machine that suppress inconvenient and increasingly popular descent and publicize the cause. I wrote a letter to Sergey Brin (been to israel and who knows his allegiances), David Drummond and the co-founders of YouTube, suggest you guys do the same. Actions like these must be met with virulent anger and lobbying and ideally a physical presence. "Web Anger" will only relegate the effectiveness to the blogosphere, one that even I despise.

  9. jan_gdyn says:
    June 20, 2009 at 10:42 pm

    Is there like a forum where people who've been unfailry censored by Google come together? Maybe I should create one! In related news: Someone made an incorrect comment earlier this week re: Google News and this site. As of now Google still lists Mondoweiss in its News section. For now.

  10. Joh Domingo says:
    June 20, 2009 at 11:31 pm

    Advertisers pay per click and can monitor the conversion rates of the traffic that come from your site. I would say that you rate fairly highly for the keywords Israel and Palestine. Only "Israel" will matter much because the adsense websites that will pop up for that keyword will invariably be a website selling services and products relating to Israel. It is highly likely that NONE of your readers will buy products from, or relating to Israeli products. After a while it becomes obvious that they are wasting their money paying for clicks from readers of your website. From a commercial point of view they HAVE to disable you adsense account, other wise their entire system, which revolves around commercial relevancy will break down. The stats jettisoned your account, not some person in Google. It was done by a bot. It was done to protect the integrity of their Adsense account system, not because your blog is anti Israel. Keywords website have to have some commercial applicability. It is possible that your readership is suitable to market certain product to, unfortunately it is demonstrably not Israel services and product. JohD

  11. 888 says:
    June 20, 2009 at 11:42 pm

    google is not impartial… they have an agenda, it just isn't something they openly communicate…

  12. 888 says:
    June 20, 2009 at 11:45 pm

    he link you provide in this article is erroneous…. " This post is based entirely on a note from Brian Dana Akers.]" directs to a yoga site…

  13. 888 says:
    June 21, 2009 at 12:06 am

    Larry Page was born into a non-practicing Jewish family in Lansing, Michigan. he is the co founder of google…

  14. YouTube=ADL=Israel says:
    June 21, 2009 at 3:06 am

    http://www.adl.org/PresRele/Internet_75/5416_75.h... ADL and YouTube have been working furiously to shut down any content that presents Israel or any of its supporters in a less-than-favorable light. For years, the ADL has led the fight against the 1st, 2nd and a host of other Amendments. Abe Foxman and his cronies have always feared an open debate, hence the talks being canceled, the whole Judt affair, the labeling of the USS Liberty survivors as "anti-semetic" nuts and so forth. If the ADL represents "tolerance", I would gladly count myself amongst thinking Americans who are "intolerant". As stated in previous articles, this is really a war over vocabulary. "Hate speech" is the most Orwellian device that we have to contend with as a republic.

  15. Craig11 says:
    June 21, 2009 at 3:58 am

    Off-topic: I'm starting to understand why some people think they're being censored on Mondoweiss. I think Intense Debate simply loses comments sometimes. I've replied three times to one of 888's comments above and each time the comment just vanishes shortly after being posted. I don't think this is something that anyone is doing to censor me. Intense Debate is just proving itself, once again, to be unreliable.

  16. hasbarablaster says:
    June 21, 2009 at 4:11 am

    Don't Be…Anti-Semitic! Sergei Brin is also Jewish http://paul.kedrosky.com/archives/2007/02/15/anti... Did you know that the two founders of Google, Serget Brin and Larry Page are Jewish? Watch this interview from Israel with Sergey Brin. http://paul.kedrosky.com/archives/2007/02/15/anti... Anti-Semitism and Google's Sergey Brin There is a lengthy and interesting new profile out of Google founder Sergey Brin. Published in a Jewish politics & culture magazine, you learn about how Brin thinks anti-semitism has popped up in his Wikipedia profile, and about how his "standard" Russian-Jewish family influenced his success. From the article, here he is on the latter subject in a recent speech at a Tel Aviv university: "I have standard Russian-Jewish parents," he then continued in English. "My dad is a math professor. They have a certain attitude about studies. And I think I can relate that here, because I was told that your school recently got seven out of the top 10 places in a math competition throughout all Israel." The students applauded their achievement and the recognition from Sergey, unaware that he was setting up a joke."What I have to say," he continued, "is in the words of my father: 'What about the other three?'"

  17. hasbarablaster says:
    June 21, 2009 at 4:21 am

    they left this one up: Open Letter to Google: Censorship is getting out of control http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLsa6S5DTas

  18. hasbarablaster says:
    June 21, 2009 at 2:00 pm

    http://www.google-watch.org/jobad.html Google acquires CIA-linked company October, 2004 Google has acquired Keyhole, Inc., which has a database of 3-D spy-in-the-sky images from all over the globe. Their software provides a virtual fly-over and zoom-in with one-foot resolution. Keyhole is supported by In-Q-Tel, a venture capital firm funded by the CIA, in an effort to "identify and invest in companies developing cutting-edge information technologies that serve United States national security interests." In 2003, Keyhole's CEO John Hanke was quoted in an In-Q-Tel press release: "Keyhole's strategic relationship with In-Q-Tel means that the Intelligence Community can now benefit from the massive scalability and high performance of the Keyhole enterprise solution." The spooks in Washington now had another hook into Google, Inc. Then in mid-2005, Rob Painter joined Google as Senior Federal Manager. He came straight from In-Q-Tel, where he had been Director of Technology Assessment.

  19. hasbarablaster says:
    June 21, 2009 at 2:02 pm

    http://rawstory.com/news/2008/CIA_creates_miniGoo... Google partners with NSA, CIA on intelligence database Eric Mayes Published: Monday March 31, 2008

  20. dalybean says:
    June 21, 2009 at 2:10 pm

    I made the comment because an article of a particularly incendiary nature showed up in blogs but not news. But I can't remember what the article was and this article, for example, does in fact show up in news not blogs.

  21. Mooser says:
    June 21, 2009 at 3:27 pm

    You-tube does have, to its credit, a fantastic selection of Hammond organ videos, both Jazz and Gospel. They are very helpful.

  22. Ken says:
    June 21, 2009 at 4:31 pm

    youtube show Neda: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrdRwOlmIxI but they wouldn't show a few americans bad-mouthing obama.. why?

  23. US Objector says:
    June 21, 2009 at 6:27 pm

    Time for Phil and Adam to sign up with Microsoft Ads instead. Everyone should click the ads like crazy.

  24. San Fernando Curt says:
    June 22, 2009 at 2:19 pm

    In the old days, journalists would dig out this story – develop sources at Google and backtrack the decision to its sources. Everyone assumes Google was pressured by the "nonexistent" Israeli Lobby; that's probably what an investigation would reveal. As a public entity, political pressure can be brought on Google, even in an informal way, and the Lobby's bread and butter is doing just that. But since our media is in the hands of about a half-dozen companies like Disney, Viacom, Time-Warner, etc. – all of them cooperative to the point of obsequiousness to the Lobby – it's doubtful this will happen. As time goes on, the more it will stink in here.

  25. David_Seaton says:
    June 24, 2009 at 5:49 am

    My personal experience with the subject of this thread, was to have the following video, which I put together at the height of the Gaza massacre, pulled from YouTube with a stern warning about being under six months probation with the possibility of having my IP banned forever…. within a half hour of uploading the video. Here is the link to the video itself: http://s216.photobucket.com/albums/cc105/seatonsn... Harmless it isn't, but there is a lot rougher stuff on youtube that doesn't touch Israel and stands without problems. My conclusion is that Google is biased, very biased, unselfconsciously biased.

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