Visiting this Web Site May Harm American Thinker

For 30 minutes Saturday morning, Google displayed the warning "this site may harm your computer" with all search results, including its own home page. Normally, the warning only appears on sites that Google suspects to be infected with malicious programs such as viruses. A data error flagged every site on the web as potentially harmful, as thousands of people noted on Twitter.

The situation became so desperate that people began using Yahoo Search.

Even though the problem lasted just a half-hour, that was enough time for the conservative blog American Thinker to uncover a vast left-wing conspiracy. In a story headlined "Google Blocks Conservative Web Sites," Rick Moran writes:

The blocks appear to be temporary -- more a nuisance than a threat. But this morning, websites for the Republican National Committee, Real Clear Politics, and Pajamas Media were all blocked with the caption:

Warning -- visiting this web site may harm your computer! ...

The potential for this gigantic corporation to game the free flow of information to suit its own ideological ends is frightening. Everyone -- liberals and conservatives -- should be concerned when ideological attacks like this take place.

Since the problem affected billions of pages in Google's search database, it appears that the writers at American Thinker don't get out much beyond right-wing sites. Color me shocked.

Politics · Google · 2009/01/31 · 5 COMMENTS · Link

Comments

Well the point probably is that the conservatives (not as stupid as we would like to think) merely exploited the situation to get attention - as they are more pathetic and needy than ignorant.... if we call them stupid and just laugh at them, we will not take them as seriously as we should - and then put them in jail and make them clean toilets for 10 years...

#1 · James Aire · 2009/01/31

What I noticed is that not every site was affected - Just AIG, Citibank and those involved in the bailout (and those you mentioned in the above). Since many thousands were just layed off from Google there might be some connection - it seemed more like a Hack than a data error.

#2 · Jim Myers · 2009/02/01

It also affected Gmail - some of my email was tagged with the same "beware of this message/sender" message.

#3 · Anon · 2009/02/01

Actually it was for an hour or so

#4 · Rob · 2009/02/01

Falling for the right/left paradigm hasn't been this funny since Penn and Teller convinced people to sign a petition banning water. Yes, that's what us truly thinking people see when we see stuff like this. MORONS, both sides.

#5 · Anonymous · 2009/02/01