Google Subpoena Report Publicized

Earlier this year, the US gov’t subpoena’d various search companies to get supporting data for a proposed revived Child Online Protection Act.

(Some search companies fully complied in handing out the data, like search queries and indexed URLs, while others – like Google – tried to narrow it down to what seemed a more meaningful portion.) Seth Finkelstein now has the findings of this report… and it turns out that, quote the report, “About 1 percent of the websites in the Google and MSN indexes are sexually explicit. About 6 percent of queries retrieve a sexually explicit website. Nearly 40 percent of the most popular queries retrieve a sexually explicit website.” The report also states that “The number of sexually explicit websites is huge.”

*The COPA, which Seth calls a “censorware report”, states “the protection of the physical and psychological well-being of minors by shielding them from materials that are harmful to them is a compelling governmental interest”.

Comments

Tag:

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg | Yahoo! My Web | Furl

Bookmark WebProNews:

Philipp Lenssen from Germany, author of 55 Ways to Have Fun With Google, shares his views & news on the search industry in the daily Google Blogoscoped.