Today even in the UK we have seen the news about the American First Lady, Michelle Obama, and the scandal over Google searches throwing out a racist image.
Let's leave aside the revulsion over this - it's a daft schoolkid prank and should be treated with that sort of contempt. Google had a decision to make about removing it or not and opted to support freedom even when it offends - we have similar stuff happening in the UK, check the recent media coverage of the British National Party over here. No link deliberately, otherwise they might get clicks.
I'm not here to write about censorship issues, though. What concerns me more is the nature of SEO and how someone has manipulated a search so that their stupid cartoon gets to the top of a major search engine. It's clearly been done with so much sophistication, so much skill in the underlying code, that it actually gets listed above the stuff the real Michelle Obama is doing, or maybe her husband, like running the biggest country in the world during a massive economic crisis.
Annoyed? Yes I am. Regretful that the Obama family has been dragged into something like this? Yes, but I accept racism exists. Hopeful that Google, Microsoft and the others will move some goalposts so this sort of trash stays in the trashcan where it belongs rather than at the top of the search lists? You bet.
