Google is dead to me

[footfootfoot]

Got this in my inbox

Google bans gun sales on US shopping center

10:57 AM 06/29/2012

Google is banning the sale of weapons and ammunition within its shopping center, causing firearms owners to second guess their use of the search giant.

The company announced on May 31 that it would be changing its product search policies for Google Shopping.

“All of the items in your feed must be in compliance with Google Shopping policies,” the company said on the site’s support center. “In particular, all items have to be family safe.”

The company listed “guns, ammunition and knives” as part of its products list “not allowed on Google Shopping.”

The rule seems to have started to take effect. As of June 28, queries for items such as “Colt 1911 Pistol,” “12 gauge ammo” and “Colt .45″ are met with a “did not match any shopping results” page.
Searches for “Remington,” however, still turned up a result for a shotgun made by the gun manufacturer.

URL to full article: http://dailycaller.com/2012/06/29/go...opping-center/

[Ibby]

I know that if I operated, let's say, a mall, i would hesitate to let a gun shop open in my mall.
I also know that I would not feel too hot if i were an accidental facilitator of illegal or otherwise regulation-dodging arms sales, and had no way to regulate the sellers within my marketplace to make sure they were providing their sales legally.
I think google was put in a sketchy legal and ethical place, and decided to err on the side of, making sure everything being sold on their own marketplace was something they were comfortable with being sold under the Google brand's umbrella.
would google be "dead to you" if they stopped turning up results for fetish images of animal abuse? of child pornography (they already don't)?
What if wal-mart stopped selling guns, citing regulatory concerns, or a tendency for terrorist or organized-crime elements to only buy their guns at wal-marts? would you boycott wal-mart?
why are guns a special category of goods that companies HAVE to be okay with selling?

[Spexxvet]

Originally Posted by footfootfoot

Got this in my inbox



URL to full article: http://dailycaller.com/2012/06/29/go...opping-center/

I bet you'll use google to search for your next gun purchase.

[Cyber Wolf]

That's perfectly fine, since they aren't infringing on my rights to purchase, keep, use and supply any of my guns. I'll just buy them at the gun shows like I have done before. Or inherit them via my grandparents... which I can't do any more cuz I don't have grandparents anymore. Gun shows, it is!

As long as Google doesn't restrict my research of firearms before I decide on buying one, it's cool (and their right and choice) if they don't wanna sell them. And THAT is only a matter of convenience.

[Clodfobble]

Imagine the uproar.

Dude shoots up a shopping mall. Turns out he was mentally ill, wasn't supposed to be able to get a gun. How did he get one? Oh, he just bought it online. He bought it online?!

Guns are one of those things that simply must have in-person oversight, IMHO. A real person to look you up and down, make sure you at least superficially appear to be who you say you are, make sure that you are not the same dude who came in a week ago pretending to be someone else.

[Rhianne]

Guns.


Oops, sorry, I thought this was the 'Stuff you wish wasnt invented....' thread!

[infinite monkey]

"Google is dead to me."

You shot Google? How ironic!

[Stormieweather]

I don't like it.

When I use a search engine to find a vendor to sell me something, I expect all legal such vendors to be listed. I do not appreciate the search engine censoring what I can shop for. Google isn't selling the guns (or whatever), they are only listing the sellers.

So, if Google decided that we shouldn't be reading about vampires, because it's unChristianlike, and they blocked all books relating to vampires from their "shopping list", would that be ok?

It is NOT the same as Amazon, who actually sells the products and warranties them, and to whom you return the product, even though they don't manufacture the item. So Amazon DOES have the right to decide what to include in their wares.

Google should be like the operator, 411, or the phone book used to be. Just list the vendors and let me decide what to buy and from whom.

[Ibby]

thats not how google marketplace works, stormie. at all.
if i search for "online gun retail" in a normal google search it WILL show me the results for all online gun retailers it can find.
but in the google shopping site, its not an index, and its not a site like amazon - its more like eBay retailers or 3rd-party retailers who sell THROUGH amazon.

[Stormieweather]

I've shopped through Google many, many times. It's just a list of vendors who sell the item you are looking for. You can even filter it down to local stores only ("in stock nearby"), then walk out your door and pay for it/pick it up. I've bought from Best Buy that way several times...via Google shopping.

You do not buy through Google. You click thru to the vendor's site and buy directly from them.

[SamIam]

Everybody should be buying their guns from individuals in back allies behind gun shows, anyway. That way you can avoid registering your weapon(s). Why make it easy for homeland security or some other government entity to confiscate the weapons of the citizenry? (And no, I don't live in northern Idaho - I just have a healthy mistrust of the government)

[BigV]

Originally Posted by Stormieweather

I don't like it.

When I use a search engine to find a vendor to sell me something, I expect all legal such vendors to be listed. I do not appreciate the search engine censoring what I can shop for. Google isn't selling the guns (or whatever), they are only listing the sellers.

So, if Google decided that we shouldn't be reading about vampires, because it's unChristianlike, and they blocked all books relating to vampires from their "shopping list", would that be ok?

It is NOT the same as Amazon, who actually sells the products and warranties them, and to whom you return the product, even though they don't manufacture the item. So Amazon DOES have the right to decide what to include in their wares.

Google should be like the operator, 411, or the phone book used to be. Just list the vendors and let me decide what to buy and from whom.

turns out google search is just like you expect. you search for vampires or ammunition or vehicles, all relevant results will be returned, including ones for vendors of such items. what won't be returned are shopping results for such items.


Ibby's mall analogy is a good one. google's changing the way results are displayed and the change is to make it more like a shopping mall and less like a search engine. they're only going to list some vendors' items/lines for appearance in the shopping results--the ones that show up with a for sale price. this is no different than any other store that doesn't carry everything on the planet.

Here's a list of the unacceptable product categories, from here:

Unacceptable product categories
Affiliates, cataloged drop-shipping programs, and multi-level marketing

The promotion of affiliate or pay-per-click links, products sold through a commission-based relationship, or sites that bulk list products fulfilled through drop-ship consolidators is not allowed. This includes item pages that are made up almost entirely of advertisements, or pages where advertisements obstruct the view of the submitted product. The promotion of multi-level marketing (MLM) business products is also not permitted, such as businesses that recruit members and offer them rewards for recruiting others and/or selling services
Services

Services are not allowed on Google Shopping.
Examples of listings disallowed:

Event tickets
Subscriptions, such as magazine subscriptions or any kind of service subscription.
Online courses

Other prohibited categories

The following products are not allowed on Google Shopping:

Vehicles
Guns, ammunition and knives
Tobacco and cigarettes
Traffic devices (Learn more)
Products related to casino and gambling
Products or digital goods that require additional software installation in order to be purchased.
Products bundled with service plans. (Note: The only products that are allowed to be submitted with a service plan are mobile devices.)

so. they won't be displaying hits for cars for sale. or cigarettes. or concert tickets. among a few other things. Naturally, you can still search for vendors of these items, but you can't get a priced listing for an item from google shopping. While I'm at it, Google Shopping is undergoing a considerable change. It used to be that when you did a search for an item, ammo or blenders or cameras or whatever, you got some paid hits for vendors and some hits for the actual items. Now, the only vendors or items you'll see hits for are for those vendors who have paid to be included in shopping results. That's right, you won't see any shopping results for your desired item unless a vendor has already paid google to be included in the shopping results.

this is not the same as google search where there are hits for vendors who haven't paid to be included. Vendors have to pay google to have their products listed in shopping results, not in search results.

[Gravdigr]

I'd bet both of my balls that any business located near a "gun store" would be a pretty safe business. Gun stores, and the stores near them are hardly ever the target of criminals.

Which has more crime taking place, Wal-mart, Dollar General Store (where I have to ask to be handed my soap from behind a locked cabinet, by a manager, when I'm ready to check out, because it's one of the most stolen items in the store) or your local gun store?

[Gravdigr]

I buy all my guns from a guy in a raincoat.

I like him. He calls me 'Bub' & 'Mac'.

[BigV]

Originally Posted by Gravdigr

I'd bet both of my balls that any business located near a "gun store" would be a pretty safe business. Gun stores, and the stores near them are hardly ever the target of criminals.

Which has more crime taking place, Wal-mart, Dollar General Store (where I have to ask to be handed my soap from behind a locked cabinet, by a manager, when I'm ready to check out, because it's one of the most stolen items in the store) or your local gun store?

define "more crime"

Barclay's Bank just paid a $450 million dollar settlement for gaming the system that sets interest rates for the whole world.

the speed limit on the street (an arterial) fifty feet from my house is 30 mph. I can guarantee 20 crimes in 15 minutes, depending on the time of day.

now I don't shop at wal-mart mostly on general principles but also because they're not around here. I am pretty cool with dollar general (I am a cheap bastard) but I don't know where the closest one of those is either. And I can count the number of times I've been in a gun shop on one hand. I just don't have enough experience to give a confident answer to your question.

But I bet you're imagining that a store full of guns is less likely to suffer an armed robbery (or shoplifting for that matter) than a general merchandise discount store. I'd buy that.

what's your point?