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Former Google Employee Leaks Docs to Project Veritas, Claims Google Initiated Wellness Check[Repost]

posted by Fnord666 on Friday August 16 2019, @01:05AM   
from the don't-not-do-evil dept.

[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]

takyon writes:

'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

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Original Submission

• Re:If Not this Then What? (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 16 2019, @02:26PM

  by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 16 2019, @02:26PM (#881083)

  No you don't have to do that. You choose to do that in order to avoid personal development.
  I used to think just like you. But then I realized I was part of the problem because I was allowing myself to be used by sociopaths who have figured out that my naivete was their best weapon.

  I should have paid better attention in history class, I would have figured it out a lot sooner. Lots of other smart people did. For example:

  Jonathan Swift - “Falsehood flies, and the truth comes limping after it.”
  Or colloquially "A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes."

  More relevant to this particular conversation:

  “Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.”

  ― Jean Paul-Sartre
  Anti‐Semite and Jew [1944]

  Parent

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