Google blots its copybook again

IS GOOGLE CENSORING ITSELF WHEN IT COMES TO ISLAM?

On January 5th, thenextweb.com noticed some odd behaviour with Google when you type in search suggestions for various religions. Type in “Christianity is”, for instance, and Google autofills with a few ideas for things it thinks you might be hunting for. “Christianity is a lie”, for instance, or “bullshit”, “false”, “almost dead”, “not a religion”, “a cult”, “wrong”, “sexist” or “dead”.

Similar things happen when you type in “Judaism is”, “Hindusim is”, “Buddhism is” and “Catholicism is”. Try it yourself and see.

But something very different happens when you type in “Islam is”. Nothing. there are no suggestions, of any sort.

Google claims this has nothing to do with cowardice or censorship but is simply a bug. Given that it is now eight days since the oddity was noticed, it must be a very serious bug indeed. Only the most deluded conspiracy theorist could possibly think that Google’s sudden announcement that it might end its much-criticised censorship practices in China could have anything to do with diverting attention away from this embarrassing “bug”.

OTHER ZEBU NEWS
• Lingfield racecourse has abandoned its “all-weather” meeeting because of…the weather. Åccording to The Racing Post, they claim the track is raceable but that there are safety concerns with local snow-covered roads. [Thanks to Mark]

• Which? reports that hire car companies are bamboozling and misleading customers. Avis and Enterprise give no details of terms and conditions on their website, while Europcaar, Enterprise and Hertz stipulate in their small print that if the car is stolen and you can’t produce the key, you can be held liable for the whole value of the vehicle.

• It isn’t only the UK that has problems with fake students. In China, entry standards to universities are higher for the Chinese than they are for foreigners, so there’s a growing demand for fake passports from African, South American and Southeast Asian countries. The Global Times says: “A typical student imposter cannot speak the native language of his purported motherland and can’t tell you the name of the nation’s capital. His family is Chinese.” To be fair, that probably also applies to some genuine British students too, given the latest report on UK education standards.

• The Daily Telegraph reports that MPs who claimed expenses they weren’t entitled to are striking deals, with the whole thing kept secret if they repay the money. If anything illustrates the “one law for them, another for the rest of us”, it is this scandalous arrangement offered by John Lyon, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards. Labour MP Janet Anderson, for instance, was offered such a deal after double-claiming £6,000 in “petty cash”. So much for the transparency promised by the party leaders.