Google alters the way Image search handles adult content
Linked by Thom Holwerda on Wed 12th Dec 2012 22:03 UTC
Google A change to anything related to Google Search - the product so many of us rely on - is never going to go by unnotoced. This time around, Google has altered Image Search for US users to alter the way it handles that ever so important aspect of the web - adult content.
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RE[11]: Comment by Zaitch
by fmaxwell on Sun 16th Dec 2012 07:20 UTC in reply to "RE[10]: Comment by Zaitch"
fmaxwell
Member since:
2005-11-13

This post shows how Google's "porn" censorship harms users and legitimate, for profit, mainstream (non-pornographic) web sites.


The only change Google has done now is that you have to be more specific when you want to find porn.

It's all about the unintended consequences.

Jalopnik, Wired, and other mainstream sites often refer to beauty shots of various collector cars as 'car porn.' Apparently, this is causing images to be excluded from some image searches.

When I searched for "Ferrari 599", the image from this page on Wired, entitled Enjoy Some Gratuitous Ferrari 599 GTO Porn, was excluded, despite there being no sexual content:

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/07/ferrari-599-gto-official-pics/

But when I searched for "Ferrari 599 porn", it' was displayed as the first image on the first page.

So you say "well, just add the word 'porn' to each search just to avoid missing such images." Not so fast. If you search for "Ferrari porn" you are faced with page upon page of hardcore porn (sex acts, fellatio, penetration, etc.) with a few images of Ferrari cars thrown in.

Lets face itif you use Google to search for porn you know how to do this and you're probably doing it already.

Let's face it:

1. If you use Google to search for pictures of cars, you should not have to add the word "porn" to each search in order to see non-sexual images of cars on mainstream web sites.

2. Users should not have to wade through pages of hardcore porn in order to see a few pictures of cars that should never have been excluded from their original search

3. Wired, Jalopnik, and other mainstream, for-profit sites should not be unfairly excluded from search results, costing them clicks and advertising dollars.

4. If a 51 year old man can figure out that you need to add the word "porn" in order to see excluded images of Ferraris, fourteen year old boys will figure it out, too. And then they will be faced with images of fellatio, penetration, and group sex acts (with a few car pictures thrown in).

Game, set, match.

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