Monday, January 25, 2010

Google: 'Islam is' bug fixed

UPDATE: The company tells Paper Trail it has fixed a problem that blocked suggested results when users typed "Islam is" into the search window.

After our blog posting yesterday, Google sent an email this afternoon stating:

"Here's a statement attributable to a Google spokesperson, "The bug fix is in the process of rolling out, and suggestions will be visible within the next few days."

The story was gaining traction because when users type in "Christianity is" - or other religions followed by "is" - a host of often derisive words show up underneath to complete that sentence.

The "Islam is" query prompted no suggestions at all.

The matter raised questions about whether the company was self-censoring results in its Google Suggest feature.

As we noted, the timing was interesting because Google recently released this statement threatening to shut down service in China because it is no longer willing to censor results there, citing the importance of free speech.

No word on other searches that still appear to have glitches in the suggestions feature. Paper Trail has asked Google to explain those bugs.

- Doug Miller

4 comments:

Dr. Horrible said...

I'm guessing they don't want to follow in the footsteps of other "blasphemers" who wound up dead.

Anonymous said...

What is the difference between Islam and Voodoo?

Answer: 0

Anonymous said...

So the Obs is a week late chasing a non-story cooked up by the fair 'n' balanced journalists at Fox News? Great work, Paper Trail.

Islamic Books - English said...

See this website for islamic books ... http://www.khanqah.org/books/en