Please read this, it could happen to you

Google might say your website is
"related to" or "similar to"
illegal and pornograhic websites

Having discovered that Google says my website is "similar to" and "related to" an illegal pornographic website and other unsavoury websites, I have been trying to have this rectified.
Below are copies of the correspondence I have exchanged with Google and brief details about this problem.
Since discovering this, I have been looking in to it more and have discovered a serious problem with the Google "similar pages" feature that can lead to serious abuse and is open to be exploited.
Unfortunately, Google do not seem concerned.


I had an email from a work colleague alerting me to the fact that he had just done a google "similar pages" search of my site and told me to do the same.
I did this, and was shocked to see the sites that "google says" are "related to" and "similar to" my site. Amongst the sites was one which looked as though it would be blatantly illegal site and 2 or 3 very unsavoury sites.

I immediately emailed google to get an explanation as to why they say my website is similar to and related to these kinds of sites. No reply, I emailed again, this time I received an automated reply


"Thank you for your note. This is an automated reply to your message.
Google.com is a US site regulated by US law. Google provides access to publicly available webpages, but does not control the content of any of the billions of pages currently in the index. Given this fact, and pursuant with section 230(c) of the Communications Decency Act, Google does not remove allegedly defamatory material from our search results. You will need to work directly with the webmaster of the page in question to have this information removed or changed. Once the material has been modified on the site in question, Google's search results will automatically reflect this change after we next crawl the site.

We are sorry we cannot assist you further at this time.
Regards,
The Google Team"




Not happy with this, I emailed again, and again received an automated reply.


"Thank you for your note.
This is an automated reply to your inquiry about your site's inclusion in the Google search results.
We're always working hard to provide comprehensive online assistance, and you'll likely find an answer to your question at the following links:

http://google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=20921&query=disappeared&topic=0&type=f

http://google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=19760&query=disappeared&topic=0&type=f

If you have additional questions, we recommend reviewing the Google HelpCenter at

http://www.google.com/support

for our most up-to-date information.
You might also try our online discussion forum at

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=google.public.support.general

Finally, if you've exhausted our online help content, and you're still having trouble finding an answer to your question, please feel free to reply to this email.
It's important to keep in mind that we'll only be able to respond to your note if we can provide additional information that's not currently available on our Help Center.

Thanks again for taking the time to write.

Regards,
The Google Team"




Again I wasn't happy so emailed again, and finally got a reply that wasn't automated.


"Hi *****,

Thank you for your note.
We're sorry you encountered these unexpected results while using Google.
Please be assured that your email will beforwarded to the appropriate team for further investigation.
We appreciate your assistance in maintaining the quality of our search results.
Please let us know if you come across these types of results in the future.

Regards,
The Google Team"




Great, I thought, someone is going to sort this mess out. I did a google "similar search" of my site again but was shocked to see nothing had changed.
Another 2 emails but with no reply and then I checked again.
This time I was pleased to see that at least the one illegal site had been removed.
Still not happy with the fact they were still saying my site was related to the others though I emailed again. and got this reply


"Hi ****

Thank you for your reply. We understand your concern about the "Similar pages" returning for your site. "Similar pages" are generated automatically based on the link structure of the web, rather than the semantic content of a page itself. Please be assured that we have passed your email on to the appropriate team to further investigate this case. We appreciate your taking the time to write to us.

Regards,
The Google Team"




Now I appreciate their comment that,
"Similar pages are generated automatically based on the link structure of the web"
But they aren't automatically generated by nobody, it is *Google* who are saying my site is *similar to* and *related to* illegal and unsavoury sites.
They might be happy to simply blame this on an automated process, but I am certanly not.

How can someone publically say a persons website is "similar to" and "related to" illegal pornographic websites and despite being informed about it, still doing very little?

As this was the 2nd time they had mentioned "the appropriate team" I emailed back asking if someone from "the appropriate team" could make contact me as I had uncovered some useful information that they should be interested in.
Again no reply.
Having no joy with the Google support team I decided to look elsewhere.
After a lot of digging around at google, I found the press and media pages with email adresses for media stories.
I first sent the following email to see if anyone there would reply.

"Hi,
I have discovered a *feature* in Google that could potentially be big news and could also cause big trouble.
Sorry, I can't say more until I know someone is actually reading this, but if I get a reply I will expand.
Sorry to have to contact you this way, I have tried via the contact form and via help@google.com without getting a satisfactory response.
This is now my last avenue of getting a reply from Google.

Many thanks for reading
***"

Amazingly, I had a reply within 10 minutes
I replied, giving the whole details about the "similar page" and also saying I had discovered what could potentially be a big problem. Again I got a reply within 10 minutes, but wasn't too happy with it.


"Hi ****,
I will forward this to user support.
Thanks,
*****
Google Inc."



I emailed back saying I had already been in touch with support, but have had no joy.
Then 20 minutes later had another email, this time from support.


"Hi ****,

Thank you for your reply. We assure you that we're investigating this matter further. We regret we can't be of more assistance at this time.

Regards,
The Google Team"



That was the last I heard.
*Google* is still saying my site is "related to" and "similar to" some very unsavoury looking websites, my friends have all removed their links to my website, my potential clients want nothing to do with my website and all Google say is,

"Similar pages are generated automatically based on the link structure of the web"

They don't appear to be interested in the information I have that could help them, and don't appear to be bothered about this problem.
Will it be the same when this happens to YOUR website?


Follow up

Having not heard anything back from Google support, I decided to contact the press center again
Got to say, she may not have been able to help with this issue, but she did at least draw supports attention to my concerns and again I received a reply from Google support in record time.
Unfortunately, the reply was not to my satisfaction.


"Hi *****,

Thank you for your reply. We've consulted the appropriate team and it isn't our policy to remove sites from the "Similar pages" returning for a URL. As we explained in our previous message, "Similar pages" are generated automatically based on the link structure of the web. We regret we can't be of more assistance in this matter. If you come across similar results returning for your URL in our main search index, please let us know.

Regards,
The Google Team"



So where does this leave me?
With a website that when being assessed is shown to be related to pornography.
Why?
Because GOOGLE SAYS it is "related to" and "similar to" websites that no one in their right mind would want to be associated with.

The worst thing is GOOGLE DON'T CARE
They think ruining someones work, tarnishing someones name and destroying peoples businesses can be blamed on
"Similar pages" are generated automatically based on the link structure of the web.

Even worse than that, this is just the begining. It happened to me this time, a simple guy running his own 1 man business, who could it be next time? A small business with employees to worry about, a larger business who relies on their good name, a major corporation or a government department?
Think this can't happen? Think Again.

When
"Similar pages" are generated automatically based on the link structure of the web.
This can happen to ANYONE

Has anyone at Google actually sat down
and thought about the implications?

What would happen if Google said that disney.com was similar to and related to porn sites? It could happen if the similar pages feature isn't looked in to.

Comments to

- tj@sim64.co.uk -
www.sim64.co.uk





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