Google, the U.N., and the gadfly
(Credit:
Google)
The latest Google conspiracy has the lava-loving Googlers removing from Google News articles critical of the United Nations. Does Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt have a back channel to the U.N.?
I don't think so. It seems a news site called Inner City Press was delisted from Google News for about a week leading the site to speculate that the move was due to its articles exposing alleged corruption at the U.N. But a Google spokesman says it was because the company was under the impression that there was just one man working at the news site.
To get stories on Google News, news sites have to have more than one staff member. Otherwise articles from the site are displayed on Google Blog search instead, says Google spokesman Gabriel Stricker. That's the case with John Battelle who writes the Search Blog, Stricker added.
Google delisted Inner City News from Google News beginning February 13 following a "user complaint," Stricker said. After Inner City News provided evidence of more than one staffer Google began re-listing the site's articles on Tuesday, he said.
Now, back to the news.
Elinor Mills covers Internet security and privacy. She joined CNET News in 2005 after working as a foreign correspondent for Reuters in Portugal and writing for The Industry Standard, the IDG News Service, and the Associated Press. E-mail Elinor. 
