Click Me Irony

Comments on "Google Blacklists BMW.de" by Tom Espiner on www.news.com

The irony in this can be seen by reading just the first few lines of the story. The story is about Google punishing BMW's German domain site for breaking the rules by boosting their rating within Google's search engine in order to increase their site's page views. The irony comes as a result of the simple (or maybe not so simple) nature of the way we show news stories online by adding hyperlinks to the text. Thus, BMW.de's intentions were still served even after their removal from Google's results as readers of the news story are encouraged to "click here to view site". (By the way, this link works).

All the fun irony aside, there are some bigger issues to consider about BMW and Google's little conflict over java script and redirects. Google's recent cooperation with the Chinese government to censor its search lists doesn't really have anything to do with BMW's German site being blacklisted. However, this story with BMW and Google shows the amount of power that Google has as a regulatory agent. Thus, they have a uniqe station as a regulator born out of the drive of market demands. In this way, as much of our world moves online, we begin to entrust ourselves to those who control its access (whether its Google, Microsoft, or any other frightenly big tech company). The question that arises from this, in relation to Google's cooperation with China, is what if they simply refused to cooperate? Would the market's need for such a service force a country such as China to submit to the ideals of a company? To bad we won't find out.