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[Ed note: This story was originally posted 2019-08-15 04:41 UTC but was lost when we had the site crash Thursday morning. Prior comments have, unfortunately, been lost. --martyb]
'Google Blocked TorrentFreak From Appearing in Search Feature'
Documents released by whistleblower Zachary Vorhies suggests that Google actively blocked hundreds of sites, including TorrentFreak, from its Google Now service. The blocklist doesn't provide a specific reason for the blockade, but other sites are flagged for having a high user block rate or for peddling hoax stories. Vorhies has shared the documents with the US Department of Justice.
At TorrentFreak, we have written hundreds of articles about website blocking and censorship. Today, we're featured in one ourselves.
Leaked Google documents reveal that TorrentFreak.com shows up in one of Google's previously unknown blocklists, which actively hides our domain from the Google Now service.
Google Now was a Google search feature that presented users with informational cards, to provide users with more details on subjects of interest to them. While the brand no longer exists, the feature is still present in the Google Android app and its feed.
The controversial blocklist is part of a treasure trove of files that were leaked by whistleblower Zachary Vorhies, who shared them with Project Veritas. The entire collection of files uncovers many previously unknown policies and actions from Google.
The story that broke SoylentNews™.
See also (Zachary Vorhies in the news): YouTube Software Engineer Describes Seeing Altercation In Building Courtyard
America's Greatest Makers is like American Idol for geeks, so we talked to one
Previously: Veritas Claims Leaked Internal E-Mails from Google Showing Political Bias of Results
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 16 2019, @05:13AM (4 children)
Eh, its james okeefe's work that was pretty shallow here.
Voorhies's own words are self-damning, he claims google sent the police to do a wellness check on him before he quit. That means they thought he was mentally incapacitated. I'm sure that's just the tip of the iceberg, we are probably going to find out that he's cognitively vulnerable and okeefe worked him - okeefe is quite clearly a sociopath. I mean FFS Voorhies is an anti-vaxxer and a pizzagate believer, he worked at youtube and he still drank the kool-aid. The chance that this guy was making rational, sane decisions is about nil. Fucking yourself because you are stupid and incompetent is not the same as working hard.
(Score: 2) by Coward, Anonymous on Friday August 16 2019, @05:48AM (1 child)
It's not unreasonable to mistrust the authorities. They lie all the time. Anti-vax sentiment is an unfortunate consequence of that, but not necessarily irrational.
Maybe schools should have a science project where kids vaccinate some mice and not others in a blinded study. They can expose them all to a pathogen and see what happens.
Trust is a delicate thing that society needs to nurture. Berating skeptics and calling them deranged won't help.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 16 2019, @01:57PM
Amplifying every nutjob who calls himself a "skeptic" is 1000x more damaging to trust than accurately calling deranged people deranged.
The right to spout bullshit is not a right to be taken seriously. Your choice to take every nutjob seriously is a learning disability itself.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Mer on Friday August 16 2019, @09:59AM (1 child)
the work culture at google is known to be sectarian and agressive towards non-conformity, not to sensibly advertise their ideas
maybe the guy started just as center right and got paranoid by working in a hostile environment
Shut up!, he explained.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 16 2019, @02:15PM
You say "known" as if its a fact. Haven't you figured out that the people who scream the loudest about being oppressed are really just wannabe oppressors unhappy that they've been thwarted? Its always projection.
"Look what you made me do!" [thenib.com] Bog-standard abuser projection.