Google censoring certain searchterms?

[haavi]

Hi,
does anyone know why searching for certain things such as "porn",
"pussy", "blowjob", or some other term relating to sex, doesn't return
any results when I'm using GwebSearch()?

Am I just missing something or is Google actually censoring my
searches?

If this is the case, can someone telll my why they are doing this?

[mhl]

AJAX Search API sets safe search to strict and as an API client you do
not have the ability to change this setting at this point in time.

[haavi]

Why?

[jgeerdes]

Read the terms of use:

"In using Google Brand Features, you may not... display a Google Brand
Feature on your site if it contains or displays adult content or
promotes illegal activities, gambling, or the sale of tobacco or
alcohol to persons under twenty-one (21) years of age;"

[haavi]

Okay, but WHY do they censor my searches when I use the API? What's
their reasons for doing it?

Do they fear that the search results for things like adult content and
illegal activities somehow taints the Google brand?
Do they really think that people don't realize that the things they
search for doesn't have any connection with what Google stands for as
a company?

Also, is there a list of all the words that they censor somewhere? It
would be nice to know which words they filter out.

Am I the only one in this group that feels offended by them doing
this?

[jgeerdes]

I think you've answered your own question.

Do they fear that the search results for things like adult content and

illegal activities somehow taints the Google brand? Yes. A high
school near where I live was recently served an order to cease and
desist the use of their district logo because it was too close to the
logo of a D1 NCAA school. They weren't doing anything wrong, and the
logo wasn't even exactly the same, but it was infringing on the
school's brand.

Do they really think that people don't realize that the things they
search for doesn't have any connection with what Google stands for as

a company? Yes. I think the reasoning goes something like this: if
Google allowed people to slap their logo on the side of a garbage
dumpster, it wouldn't be long before the whole world thought Google
was branching out into solid waste management.

Am I the only one in this group that feels offended by them doing

this? Assuming that the rest of us have read the TOU and chosen to
deploy the API accordingly, it would seem so.

[frens]

Hi,

As I'm from Europe, what is a D1 NCAA school?

I would indeed like to know ALL the details of the censoring activity
by Google. This is not beause I do not trust them, they seem like good
guys to me. But I am a thinking member of the community, and as such I
need to be aware and know what's going on. (This is not to say that
ALL thinking members should act the same way, but for me, yes.)

So, first, I like to know all the details of censoring by Google, and
then,
second, I can form an (informed) opinion about that activity.

SO GOOGLE, COME ON!

Also, it is not about placing the Google brand on websites, it is
about censoring our searches.

Also, please, make a difference between illegal activities on the one
hand and other activities that may be legal but are rejected by groups
of people on moral grounds on the other hand. So, as long as adult
sites are not illegal, why censoring them? The reasons for doing so,
should AT LEAST be known.

[haavi]

Hi frens,
I completely agree with you. In this case it's not enough that Google
tells us what we may or may not do in their TOU. When it's about
something as serious as censoring our searches I think they have to
tell us their reasons for doing it as well. Especially since they
censor searchresults for sites that isn't illegal by law.

[patrick lane]

I like how googleapis doesnt seem to resolve very often. Google is targeting/censoring political opposition to the One.