2008 Woodie Awards
Google bombers: What a tangled Web THEY weave
Issue date: 10/12/06 Section: Opinion
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Hacktivists weave nasty Webs. They are computer hackers who use technology to announce their particular political views.
They use unethical methods, exploiting their knowledge of computer intricacies in the ploy to get their views sent to millions of Internet users, welcomed or not.
They hide their identities behind political propaganda via the World Wide Web. One of "They's" first and foremost targets is the president of the United States.
By placing the words "miserable failure" into any of the major search engines such as Google, Yahoo, MSN or AltaVista, President George W. Bush's picture will come into view.
This synthesized method has a subliminal nature, because it transmits an impression with words - words that are misleading.
"They" are childish subverts, because the keywords they use are not part of the site's name. Who are these pranksters, synonymously characterized by impish and mischievous behavior?
The site http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_President proclaims that in 2003 an unnamed Oregon resident initiated a plan for disrespectful terms to be linked to the White House's official Web page.
They are not new. Since the mid-1990s and through the 2004 presidential election to the present, tricksters have deployed political "Google bombs."
The 2008 presidential election likely will produce similar mendacious tactics. How do "They" accomplish this?
According to BBC News at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fi/- /2/hi/americas/3298443.stm, the trick "is possible because Google searches more than just the contents of Web pages - it also counts how often a site is linked to and with what words," in this case, "miserable failure" or "failure."
The explanation is that an "online community" can affect the results of Google searches popularly known as "Google bombing" by linking their sites to others.
Again, the community of people involved is not identified. Does this Google bombing represent abuse?
They use unethical methods, exploiting their knowledge of computer intricacies in the ploy to get their views sent to millions of Internet users, welcomed or not.
They hide their identities behind political propaganda via the World Wide Web. One of "They's" first and foremost targets is the president of the United States.
By placing the words "miserable failure" into any of the major search engines such as Google, Yahoo, MSN or AltaVista, President George W. Bush's picture will come into view.
This synthesized method has a subliminal nature, because it transmits an impression with words - words that are misleading.
"They" are childish subverts, because the keywords they use are not part of the site's name. Who are these pranksters, synonymously characterized by impish and mischievous behavior?
The site http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_President proclaims that in 2003 an unnamed Oregon resident initiated a plan for disrespectful terms to be linked to the White House's official Web page.
They are not new. Since the mid-1990s and through the 2004 presidential election to the present, tricksters have deployed political "Google bombs."
The 2008 presidential election likely will produce similar mendacious tactics. How do "They" accomplish this?
According to BBC News at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fi/- /2/hi/americas/3298443.stm, the trick "is possible because Google searches more than just the contents of Web pages - it also counts how often a site is linked to and with what words," in this case, "miserable failure" or "failure."
The explanation is that an "online community" can affect the results of Google searches popularly known as "Google bombing" by linking their sites to others.
Again, the community of people involved is not identified. Does this Google bombing represent abuse?
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