The Google Story by David A. Vise

Author:David A. Vise [Vise, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-440-33570-2
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2005-08-14T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 15

Porn Cookie Guy

Matt Cutts, who used to work at the National Security Agency on encryption and security issues, now fights unwanted pornography for Google instead. Cutts, whose nickname is “Porn Cookie Guy,” developed and maintains Google’s SafeSearch filter, designed to block pornography for computer users who activate it. Cutts got his moniker by giving out his wife’s tempting homemade cookies to Googlers who help him find unwanted porn. A Kentucky native and University of North Carolina Ph.D. candidate, Cutts is charged with finding and eliminating unwanted porn both in Google search results and in ads. Marissa Mayer, Google’s director of consumer Web products, said that what was once a giant problem for Google has been reduced dramatically.

“Matt does a lot around our search quality to make sure that various surprises don’t happen to you,” Mayer said. “For those of you who don’t want offensive results, or potentially offensive results, to appear in your query, he has worked to remove those. Even for people who don’t have SafeSearch turned on, he has removed spurious porn.”

Still, sneaky porn sites find ways to show up in Google. Their owners often purchase the expiring names of other Web sites as a way to get displayed in Google search results without revealing the real nature of their content. “There are people who buy hundreds of domains,” Cutts said, a practice known as “porn-napping.”

While combating unwanted porn, Google makes millions of dollars annually on pornography ads displayed alongside search results. One out of every four requests for information on Google and other Internet search engines involves pornography, according to a 2004 study by Family Safe Media, a watchdog group. That statistic suggests that Google fields tens of millions of requests for pornography daily.

Google Image Search, the tab above the search box on the homepage, displays graphic sexual content for free. On the right-hand side of the results pages is a string of paid ads that appear every time a computer user enters a search term for adult content. “Google generally allows ads containing adult themes, such as explicit sexual content,” the company states on its Web site. Because of these policies and features, and its position as the largest and most popular search engine, Google is one of the largest single gateways on the Internet for pornography. The company does not disclose how much money it makes from pornography or any other single business category. But the anonymity and the relative ease of accessing pornography has obvious appeal to some adults and underage adolescents, since they can avoid engaging in conspicuous consumption, the 2004 study said.

Computer users searching for pornography online may be mistaken in concluding that they are viewing it anonymously and privately. Google maintains electronic records of all searches, which can be traced back to specific computers. If someone has a Gmail account or has registered for any other Google service, the firm’s electronic records could be used to trace porn searches to specific individuals.

Not surprisingly, both Google and its biggest competitor, Yahoo, profit handsomely by selling sex-related ads.

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