The 21 defendants, including Google, Facebook, Orkut, Youtube, Blogspot, Yahoo and Microsoft have all been dragged over hot coals after a private case accused them of offending the religious sensibilities Hindus, Muslims and Christians. The content in question is a series of images of an “obscene” nature that have appeared in adverts across the various sites – images that haven’t been deemed offensive in any other country Google et al operate in.

While all the companies involved have agreed to take down the objectionable content, the courts in India are still not satisfied, ordering them to provide written proof of the steps taken to stop offensive content appearing in the subcontinent.

Google have declined to comment on what they’ve removed and how, although they have explained that their review team have taken content down from local searches, Youtube and Blogger. Facebook have declined to comment at all, while Microsoft have taken a more belligerent stance:

“Microsoft has filed an application for rejection of the suit on the grounds that it disclosed no cause of action against Microsoft. The matter is sub judice and no further comments can be given.”

Microsoft Statment

Twitter, despite not being named in the suit, have unveiled a new filter that will allow governments to filter out specific types of content in country-specific searches. Unsurprisingly, they’ve been called out for supporting censorship – which they’re used to after bottling out of the SOPA protest. And we assume that Google and Facebook are calling them splitters behind their backs.

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Because it looks like Yahoo have spotted a gap in the search market that the other two major search engines haven’t. While Google and Bing have scrapped over their ability to index the billions of websites available on the internet, Yahoo have dropped out of online search and adopted Bing’s own algorithm. Because they’ve been working out how to search mobile phone apps.

Rough estimates state that there are around 350,000 apps (short for applications) in Apple’s iStore and upwards of 200,000 apps in the Android market. And no way of searching for the application you want without using the sometimes unreliable in-built search functions.

Until now.

Yahoo App Search combines Droid and iPhone apps into one easily searchable database, allowing you to find app descriptions, price details and a screenshot – filtered by platform, price and genre. While this dual-platform feature seems like it will only be of use to people with both Android and Apple handsets (so, nobody), it will help developers spot gaps in the market, leading to even more useful, intuitive applications.

And, in true social internet style, the search also lets you know which applications are trending and popular. Which is a far less intrusive way of bringing social data into search…

This isn’t the first time Yahoo have brought in a groundbreaking new search product to the market under the noses of the competition. The company released (and promptly scrapped) a real-time search years before everyone was excited by Google’s ‘game-changing’ Google Instant release.

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Buoyed by the recent takedown of MegaUpload, the entertainment industry in the UK have set their sights on the biggest suppliers of pirated material in the world. The search engines Google and Bing.

A confidential document, leaked by The Guardian and a free speech campaign group shows that a number of copyright holders view the search engines as culpable in the rise of online piracy because they direct users away from legitimate outlets and towards pirate websites:

“Consumers rely on search engines to find and access entertainment content and they play a vital role in the UK digital economy. At present, consumers searching for digital copies of copyright entertainment content are directed overwhelmingly to illegal sites and services.”

Report on “Responsible Practices for Search Engines in Reducing Online Infringement”

The report then goes on to suggest a number of solutions to this problem, none of which the search engines will be particularly happy with:

• De-ranking sites that breach copyright – The report claims that Google and Bing must “exert control” over what is shown
• Prioritising legal sites - Search algorithms must be changed to favour legality over relevancy
• Improve current complaints procedures – Apparently Google aren’t good at responding to complaints. Who knew?
• Stricter advertising rules – No more pay per click for pirates

It’s unlikely that Google and Bing will willingly adopt these solutions, and we imagine that they’ll take offense at the report’s insistence that search engines favour illegal sites.

The music industry may have a point though. A search for downloads of the UK’s top selling album – Ed Sheeran’s +, gives the following results on Google:

“Download Ed Sheeran +”

1. Pirate
2. Pirate
3. Pirate
4. Pirate
5. iTunes
6. Amazon
7. Pirate
8. Pirate
9. YouTube
10. Pirate

Bing displays the following:

1. Myspace
2. Pirate
3. Amazon
4. Wikipedia
5. iTunes
6. EdSheeran.com
7. EdSheeran.com
8. Last FM
9. Capital FM
10. Amazon

If this trend is repeated for searches for other albums and songs, then it looks like the music industry has a point when it comes to Google, but perhaps not as much of a point with Bing. But other than instigating yet another investigation into search engine practices, we’re not sure what they can do.

Oh, and if you’re looking to get a legitimate copy of an album, you’re probably better off using Bing, instead of Google.

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We’re getting rid of over 60 different privacy policies across Google and replacing them with one that’s a lot shorter and easier to read. Our new policy covers multiple products and features, reflecting our desire to create one beautifully simple and intuitive experience across Google.

As you can see, the intent behind the new policy is to move towards Google’s aim of a single, unified Google product encompassing the browser you use, your preferred search engine and social network, your email client and everything else you can do with your Google account.

In short, Google are saying that they’re adopting a unified policy to make it easier for you to have a lovely, wonderful online experience.

They’re not adopting a unified policy to make it easier for you to have a lovely, wonderful online experience.

According to pretty much everyone who isn’t Google, they’re doing this for the ad revenue.

What the New Google Privacy Policy Means

All Google products can now share data. That means that Chrome has access to your gmail account, Calendar knows what you’ve promised to do on Google+ and that the AdSense network has access to everything.

And that means one thing. In the interests of relevancy, AdSense is going to trawl through everything you do on Google to find out what you’re most likely to buy. Search history, email content, appointments – all of these and more will inform the ads that you see on Google and the AdSense network.

Unsurprisingly, there’s another backlash looming.

Google’s new policy doesn’t let you decide which services can see what data – and that’s upset privacy campaigners. After March 1st 2012, you either accept Google’s new policy and give the whole product range access to everything you do online, or you need to find an alternative to those Google products you think you can’t live without.

Somehow, we think this might be mentioned in the next anti-trust case…

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He might be the first Pontiff to embrace social media, but it looks like Pope Benedict XVI hasn’t yet decided whether using Twitter is a vice or a virtue.

The leader of the Catholic Church took out time from checking the trending topics on the official Vatican Twitter account to provide a statement for the “World Day of Communications”. And his focus, like that of protesters, commentators and governments the world over was on social networking and search engines.

The Pope started by comparing Twitter to the Bible, which seems like a compliment from a man who’s job description is “God’s representative on Earth”:

“In concise phrases, often no longer than a verse from the Bible, profound thoughts can be communicated.”

Pope Benedict, Twitter fan?

But unfortunately for the immortal souls of Twitter users everywhere, The Pope isn’t too happy with us all spending time tweeting, even if he recognises our penchant for ‘profound thoughts’ on subjects such as last night’s tea, the inexplicable popularity of One Direction and what we’ve just posted on our blog.

In fact, he’d much rather we stopped Tweeting quite so much and all just shut up:

“Joy, anxiety and suffering can all be communicated in silence — indeed it provides them with a particularly powerful mode of expression.”

The Pope, not a Twitter fan?

But, The Pope wouldn’t be The Pope if he didn’t take time out from wondering just what he thought about Twitter to explain that our penchant for using Google is a sign that we all need a bit more religion in our lives:

“Search engines… have become the starting point of communication for many people who are seeking advice, ideas, information and answers. Ultimately, this constant flow of questions demonstrates the restlessness of human beings, ceaselessly searching for truths, of greater or lesser import, that can offer meaning and hope to their lives.”

Pope Benedict, again.

So, there you have it. Twitter can be profound, but you should use it less, and your use of Google is a sign that you need some meaning in your life. Either meaning or, if last year’s Google Zeitgeist is to be believed, scampi. One of the two.

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Working together, engineers from the world’s top social networks (and Myspace) have come up with a countermeasure that will negate the dark forces used by Google to infect their search results with social data.

The “Don’t Be Evil” browser add-on ensures that Google’s algorithm doesn’t give undue importance to Google+ results, which have started to outrank far more regularly updated social profiles from Twitter and Facebook, and can be downloaded from focusontheuser.org. The site gives this example to show how it redresses the balance and swings Google’s results away from Evil and back towards Relevant:

When you search for “cooking” today, Google decides that renowned chef Jamie Oliver is a relevant social result. That makes sense. But rather than linking to Jamie’s Twitter profile, which is updated daily, Google links to his Google+ profile, which was last updated nearly two months ago. Is Google’s relevance algorithm simply misguided?

Our “bookmarklet”… looks at the three places where Google only shows Google+ results and then automatically googles to see if Google finds a result more relevant than Google+.

The plugin adds in social results from Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, Tumblr, Flickr and more to ensure that when you decide to make a social search, you see the results that belong there. Not the results Google need you to click to ensure that Google+ looks more active than it is.

And if you don’t want to use social search at all, then there’s always the toggle button on every Google search page. We recommend you make friends with it. We already have.

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While Facebook and Twitter view anyone who logs into their website to use the social networks specifically as a user, Google have decided that anyone who takes an action while logged into a Google account is a Google+ user.

So while you need to read or send a Tweet to be a Twitter user, you only need to check your Gmail account or edit a Google Doc to become a fully-fledged Google+ convert. Despite the fact you’ve not logged into Plus, or used any social networking tools.

This all stems from Google’s recent decision to integrate Google+ into search results, along with just about anything else they can think of. And it’s a clear signal that very soon it won’t matter whether you want to use Plus or not. If you want to use any Google products, you’ll have to +1 yourself.

Unless of course you want to use Google Picnik or Skymap, because Google are dropping them in the latest set of “spring cleaning” product clearouts.

Google have announced that the following products will all be cut by the end of April 2012, leading to widespread shrugs:

• Picnik – A photo editing service (being integrated with Google Picasa)
• Google Message Community -A backup service for Microsoft emails
• Urchin – The analytics software cannibalised for Google Analytics
• Sky Map – A map of the night sky, which is being made open source as all Google support will be dropped

Google have claimed that these services will be dropped so that more effort can be placed on improving core Google apps and services. And in making sure that you can’t access the internet without automatically becoming a Google+ user…

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To help you get through the day, we’ll let you know who’s protesting and what alternatives are available. But while you’re looking around for a replacement Reddit, you might want to see if there’s a way you can protest against SOPA. If you’re an American, write to your elected officials, and if you’re not, pester some Americans on Facebook until they write in.

Wikipedia

Wikipedia have blacked out the English language version of their website, and are directing users towards social networks where they can spread the word about the evils of SOPA. Cleverly, this blackout is all done by Javascript, meaning that search engines can still access Wiki’s content, meaning that the site’s search engine rankings aren’t at risk.

Of course, using Javascript does mean that there are a few ways through the blackout. If you know who to ask…

Alternatives: Asking for information about workarounds on Twitter, going to a library, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Encyclopaedia Britannica Online

Reddit

The social news site Reddit is completely blacking out, leaving millions of users with nowhere to post badly drawn cartoons, pictures of their cats or badly-spelt screeds about the evils of various computer game designers. Unfortunately for morale in the FirstFound office, this means that half of the tech department will now spend their lunch hour drawing badly drawn cartoons on paper and sticking them to their monitors, in an attempt to ride out the worst of their Reddit addictions.

Alternatives: Going outside, having a conversation, finding a real hobby. Or, for the completely desperate, Digg.

Craigslist

Free listings site Craigslist will also be going dark today, making it far more difficult for people to get rid of broken furniture or post free lonely hearts ads. Fortunately, they’re only censoring US pages, so if you’re in the UK you can still find that slightly damp couch you’ve always dreamed of.

STOP PIPA (Senate 968) & SOPA (HR 3261)
Imagine a world without craigslist, Wikipedia, Google, [your favorite sites here]…
News Corp, RIAA, MPAA, Nike, Sony, Comcast, VISA & others want to make that world your reality.
80 Members of Congress are in their sway, 30 against, the rest undecided or undeclared.
★ ★ ★ Please take a minute to tell your Members of Congress you OPPOSE PIPA & SOPA ★ ★ ★

PS:  corporate paymasters, KEEP THOSE CLAMMY HANDS OFF THE INTERNET!

Message on Craigslist’s US Pages

Alternatives: Gumtree, Free newspapers like Loot.

WordPress

Well, WordPress’ own site is down. So anyone looking to set up a WordPress blog today is out of luck. Luckily for you though, any sites using WordPress will still work, so you can enjoy the fun of the FirstFound Blog all day.

Alternatives: Blogger

Google (Sort of)

Don’t panic. Really. Don’t panic. We’re not living in a post-Google world yet. Google are taking steps against SOPA and PIPA by censoring their logo and posting a link for Americans to complain about the acts. You’ll still be able to search for things – just remember that there’s no point clicking on Wikipedia links.

Alternatives: Google still works, but if you want to pretend it’s completely disappeared, you could try Bing.

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So after seven days like that, you can imagine that Google wouldn’t want to hear that their biggest rival had continued to increase their market share in December 2011.

Well, unfortunately for Google, Bing have finally achieved in the USA what they achieved in Europe months ago – becoming the second most-used search provider, with over 2.7 billion searches carried out in the US alone.

It’s not been all bad for the market leaders though, as they managed to increase their own market share by a fraction of a percent, making up for a drop-off in the number of people using Yahoo:

Search Engine Rankings for December 2011 (USA)

• Google: 65.9% – 12 billion searches
• Bing: 15.1% – 2.7 billion searches
• Yahoo: 14.5% – 2.6 billion searches
• Ask: 2.9% – 531 million searches
• AOL: 1.6% – 287 million searches

When you take into account the fact that a number of search engines are powered by Bing, the Microsoft search engine was responsible for over 26% of organic search results. They’re not quite knocking on Google’s door yet, but if people are disillusioned with Google over social search, market shares could become very interesting over the coming months…

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Somewhat unsurprisingly, it took the internet about an eighth of a second to decide that this was a stupid idea, that Google weren’t doing this to improve search, and that we all liked it just fine when we only had ten search engine results on a page, flanked by a few pay per click ads.

To save you from wasting today trawling through hundreds of rants and screeds, here’s a summary of why the net isn’t happy about Google’s latest masterplan:

Complaint One: How can you have social search without Twitter?

Put forward by: Twitter

Last year, Twitter decided that they didn’t want Google to use their data anymore, and withdrew from an agreement over live search – which up until then had displayed tweets in real time. So it’s no surprise that Google have left them out in the cold when it comes to “Search, plus Your World“.

This hasn’t stopped Twitter from blasting Google’s move in a statement which demonstrates why any social search needs to include the micro-blogging service:

“As we’ve seen time and time again, news breaks first on Twitter. We’re concerned that as a result of Google’s changes, finding this information will be much harder for everyone.”

Twitter Statement

Compelling argument?:  Yes. As we mentioned yesterday, a social search function that doesn’t include the largest social networks is at best hopeless, at worst a concerted effort to promote Google+. Speaking of which…

Complaint Two: This is just a concerted effort to promote Google+

Put forward by: SearchEngineLand, thousands of SEOs and social media experts

What do you do when you’ve spent years working on a social network to challenge Facebook, and it’s pulling in about as much traffic as the terminally declining MySpace?

According to skeptics (including one or two in the FirstFound office), you integrate your social network into your main search product, giving undue prominence to social pages and making users think that said network is far more important than its userbase would suggest.

Compelling argument?: Our Google+ business page, which has a handful of users, outranks our Facebook and Twitter pages which have been going for years and have decent followings. So yeah, we think there’s something in this. Which could be a problem, because there’s a bunch of commissions waiting to hammer Google on just this issue.

Complaint Three:  This is yet another example of Google’s penchant for privacy and anti-trust violations

Put forward by: A number of privacy and anti-trust groups

Google’s unfairly promoting Google+, Google’s sharing data that users might want to keep private, Google is trying to set up a monopoly whereby you never need to leave Google for any reason whatsoever. It’s all the usual arguments, from all the usual suspects.

But this time, it does look like Google are guilty as charged. Your Google+ pictures will pop up in Google searches, and why would you need to visit Facebook when you can just use Google to search for information on your friends, thanks to the magic of Google+?

Compelling argument?: We’ve got to admit. “Don’t be evil” seems like a fanciful dream at this point.

But what do you think? Have you popped over to Google.com to try out social search? Do you think it’s pointless? Are Google biased? Is this a ridiculous attempt to monopolise the web?

Or is it a storm in a teacup that will all blow over soon?

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