The judgement of good taste and social values is something that is usually left up to the individual who is considered to have their own set of ‘good taste’ preferences and can be trusted to know right from wrong.
In the states this might be all about to change. Matt Richtel reporting for the New York Times: ‘What’s obscene? Google could have the answer‘, outlines how in the trial of a pornographic web operator jurors have been given insight into most Google’d search terms of the residence of Pansacola. Here they are more likely to Google ‘orgy’ than make searches for tamer and less politically incorrect terms. I had to contain my amusement when ‘watermelon’ was given as the yardstick contrast to ‘orgy’, although perhaps the fruitier connotation is lost on our American counter-parts.
Amusement aside, this case has serious implications for the rest of us in the Google world. Privacy is an obvious area for debate especially in terms of the storing and observing of individual data. Only this week councils in the UK have been reprimanded for using surveillance technologies for ‘minor’ deviant activities such as dog fouling and littering, accused of being; ‘intrusive, ineffective and expensive‘. The prospect of having measurements and judgements against Google searches can be viewed as invasive. However, it is worth while keeping in mind that the very appeal of Google that is THE ubiquitous search engine is in itself significant and perhaps mean that the site should (rather unsurprisingly) carry the expected insidious inspection of all our actions.
For the record this does not leave me feeling entirely comfortable with how my data is recorded, the loss of control in terms of the where, when and to whom such records are disclosed should be highlighted and are an important topic for public consideration. Of course in the Pansacola community case, it is hard to argue anything against privacy considerations when Internet porn and misappropriate web surfing is involved.
All we can do for now is Google and watch this space…
Here is the image I want an explanation for!
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Here is what should come up under ‘Obscene’. How about what I call the “Microsoft Platinum Start-Up Cock” that always shows on my screen everytime I reboot. It comes with MS XP Pro and I wish I could attach the photo. I was told years ago that a disgruntled programmer photoshopped his penis into an image that also reads Platinum and caused it to load on start up before Microsoft found out and then it was too late. The reason I am mentioning this is because evern since then I just want someone to tell me how to remove it or replace it with a better picture!
@ Andy, yes who knew that there was a meddling shoe robot!
Something Bender didn’t have in Fututrama: A shoe fetish. I feel he missed out.
@ Neil,
Hmm this sounds like something that i’ve debated before. Ultimately where does social responsibility lie? And do ‘we’ the general public want to be able to take on our sets of social criteria, or should there be a more nannied state approach. Strikes me that so far things are a bit hit and miss, and this is a grey area where social responsibility on behalf the individual can be swiftly side lined by new regulations, and/or new applications of the same technology. Look at how far the Internet has come for example.
Interpretation is a beautiful thing. But then so is Google.
@ D, i made the same Google mistake… its amazing what you find on the web…
This is dangerous territory; in one sense the public are responsible for their profile and searches, and at the same time this judged by others. You make the point about Googled ‘watermelon’; innocent in one way, this could also be interpreted in another way.
Also are we responsible for our action, and / or others too?
Did you choose the picture of Robby the robot from Forbidden Planet?
Looks to me like that’s a robot with a serious shoe fetish and some quite possibly obscene intentions !
Andy.
was that a trick question? I googled obscene and you don’t want to know what i got.