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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 istartedi on Friday March 02 2018, @09:14PM (4 children)

    by istartedi (123) on Friday March 02 2018, @09:14PM (#646634) Journal

    Isn't Google supposed to be the company with the most PhDs?
    They're definitely not stupid, at least by certain popular metrics.
    Maybe it's a case of Google's "campus" being a "hard to get in, easy to pass" vs. "weed-out school".

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  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 03 2018, @12:01AM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 03 2018, @12:01AM (#646719)

    Just because you have a PhD does not make you 'smart'. It means you have totally mastered a single subject and can talk to that and supposedly contributed to that subject. Many 'smart' people confuse that they are smart in one area to think they are instant experts in another. Do not confuse ability to do something with the actual action of doing that.

    • (Score: 2, Insightful) by i286NiNJA on Saturday March 03 2018, @12:55AM (2 children)

      by i286NiNJA (2768) on Saturday March 03 2018, @12:55AM (#646736)

      Computer Science assholes are the worst ones too.
      Want to find an expert in everything. CS bay-beeee*

      *I'm cs and indeed the smartest man alive.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 05 2018, @11:47AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 05 2018, @11:47AM (#647932)

        *I'm cs and indeed the smartest man alive.

        Isn't it "cis"?

      • (Score: 1) by i286NiNJA on Monday March 05 2018, @06:21PM

        by i286NiNJA (2768) on Monday March 05 2018, @06:21PM (#648079)

        This was supposed to be funny but.