An explanation of our search results.

From the 21^st October 2009 anyone who typed Michelle Obama into the search engine “Google” would have seen this.  The first search result was Michelle Obama photoshopped as a chimp.  Subsequently the image has been taken down by the original Blog Hot Girls but has found its way back onto the internet via other blogging websites.  One blog the image now appears on is about female animalisation.  This also shows Hillary Clinton as a pig.

Google refused to take the image away from its search results giving this explanation.  But why should they take the image off their results?  Google is a search engine; its purpose is to search for websites.  The results display content that has been generated by other people.  Google is no more responsible for the images that come up any more than a telephone directory is responsible for the actions of the people included within it.  They are simply there to find what it is you are looking for, it is up to the user to determine the usefulness of the information provided.

Why has this caused such an issue?

Many people feel that if they don’t like something then it is their right to be able to change it.  The Internet is a place where people can edit web pages, comment on anything and where many people say exactly what think.  There are many websites that are run by online communities and a few even allow anybody who has access to the Internet to add to them, Wikipedia being amongst these.  These examples are however built as frame works for this sort of editing; the process begins to break down when people no longer understand what it is they are looking at.  A search engine can be personalised only in what your key word search is, you cannot edit its search programming.

The Internet is a minefield of websites.  Where does all the information come from? Who is providing it?  Many Internet users don’t understand the complexity of the web of information and therefore don’t understand where to vent their anger and who to aim it at.  Google received the brunt of attacks for the image, as theirs is the name you see at the top of the page when the offending image comes up.  If Google did start to block certain images where would it start and where would it finish?  Offence is entirely subjective, how could you begin to lay down the laws determining who wants to see certain images and who doesn’t?  Perhaps the user could personal their results depending on subject matter?  Should the Internet user be able to have such control?

What is a more important matter is, I think, the fact that the image came up as the first result and sparked such controversy.  If the first image result of a given keyword caused such a fuss then perhaps Google should be congratulated on their search engine design, and not be damned for showing the result.