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posted by martyb on Friday March 02 2018, @07:15PM   Printer-friendly
from the under-the-gun-to-do-something dept.

Google has banned items containing the string "gun" in the name on its e-commerce search platform, accidentally targeting many innocuous items:

Google Shopping, which allows users to compare product prices from thousands of online retailers, has removed all 'gun' search results - even if the product is not gun-related.

Online shoppers have complained about being unable to browse dozens of products such as Burgundy wine, water guns and music by American rock band Guns N' Roses. Searches for products including nail guns, glue guns and Arsenal Football Club's Gunnersaurus dinosaur mascot also returns the message: "Your search did not match any shopping results."

Google has banned weapons listings since 2012, however online shoppers have highlighted certain product unavailability since the Florida school shooting on Valentine's Day which left 17 dead.

The block could be circumvented using alternate terms such as "handgnu" or "fully automatic firearm".

Also at Engadget.


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  • (Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Friday March 02 2018, @08:42PM (2 children)

    by MichaelDavidCrawford (2339) Subscriber Badge <mdcrawford@gmail.com> on Friday March 02 2018, @08:42PM (#646614) Homepage Journal

    My homey Mr. Slutsky is a brilliant molecular biologist yet could not find a job because all the email systems reject his job applications as spam.

    I Swear I'm Not Making This Up:

    Mr.Slutsky had to change careers into high school teaching because that enabled him to submit dead-tree job applications.

    That's really gotta suck.

    --
    Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 02 2018, @11:20PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 02 2018, @11:20PM (#646696)

    That is dumb, he could easily get around that and address his altered last name in the cover letter. #fakenews

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 04 2018, @01:38AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 04 2018, @01:38AM (#647404)

      He did he changed his name to Dick Pound