What if?

[puma guy]

What remedy, if any, could be taken if search engines such a Google, Mozilla, Bing, etc. started writing their programs to exclude/block any search referencing, gun, bullets, cartridges, weapon.....etc? Are there any protections provided legally or are we at their mercy?

[Zencyl]

Alternatives are out there and more pop up everyday. The beauty of the Internet is there is always ways around the road block.

[lbuehler325]

There may be remedies, but we are essentially at the mercy of the search engine owner. While Google and Bing might take up such 'lofty' initiatives in an effort to appease some groups, I think an open source search engine (Does Mozilla Firefox have its own search capability?) would be less likely to block such searches. But, in a nutshell, the private companies that run the search engines could legally block certain content. The question is: would the government ever move to do such a thing? We might not think so, but this is the same government that brought us the Patriot Act, indefinite detention, CISPA, and targeted drone strikes on American citizens who have never been charged with crimes (with tthe open option to do the same on American soil).

[TexasCajun]

There are remedies as far as finding alternate products/services that fit your needs. As far as any legal remedies, none as far as I know - and that's probably a good thing. The phrase "we're from the government & we're here to help" comes to mind.

[sjfcontrol]

You might want to checkout DuckDuckGo...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duckduckgo" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Because users are not profiled, the "filter bubble" can be avoided, with all users being shown the same search results for a given search term.

[RoyGBiv]

You might want to checkout DuckDuckGo...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duckduckgo" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Because users are not profiled, the "filter bubble" can be avoided, with all users being shown the same search results for a given search term.

THANKS.!!!!!

Been looking for a more private search engine that easy to use... DDG has browser integration with FF..
Gonna take it out for a spin for a few days...

[gthaustex]

Very interesting. I had not heard of DDG. I will have to check it out...thanks.

[poppo]

What remedy, if any, could be taken if search engines such a Google, Mozilla, Bing, etc. started writing their programs to exclude/block any search referencing, gun, bullets, cartridges, weapon.....etc? Are there any protections provided legally or are we at their mercy?

Google has already been doing that on their shopping site for some time now.

[sjfcontrol]

What remedy, if any, could be taken if search engines such a Google, Mozilla, Bing, etc. started writing their programs to exclude/block any search referencing, gun, bullets, cartridges, weapon.....etc? Are there any protections provided legally or are we at their mercy?

Google has already been doing that on their shopping site for some time now.

But not on their search engine, which is what he asked about.

[puma guy]

There may be remedies, but we are essentially at the mercy of the search engine owner. While Google and Bing might take up such 'lofty' initiatives in an effort to appease some groups, I think an open source search engine (Does Mozilla Firefox have its own search capability?) would be less likely to block such searches. But, in a nutshell, the private companies that run the search engines could legally block certain content. The question is: would the government ever move to do such a thing? We might not think so, but this is the same government that brought us the Patriot Act, indefinite detention, CISPA, and targeted drone strikes on American citizens who have never been charged with crimes (with tthe open option to do the same on American soil).

I purposely didn't mention government doing anything like this (not that it's unfathomable with the group we have now), but I didn't want to come off as paranoid.

[Dadtodabone]

There may be remedies, but we are essentially at the mercy of the search engine owner. While Google and Bing might take up such 'lofty' initiatives in an effort to appease some groups, I think an open source search engine (Does Mozilla Firefox have its own search capability?) would be less likely to block such searches. But, in a nutshell, the private companies that run the search engines could legally block certain content. The question is: would the government ever move to do such a thing? We might not think so, but this is the same government that brought us the Patriot Act, indefinite detention, CISPA, and targeted drone strikes on American citizens who have never been charged with crimes (with tthe open option to do the same on American soil).

I purposely didn't mention government doing anything like this (not that it's unfathomable with the group we have now), but I didn't want to come off as paranoid.

“Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you”

Joseph Heller, "Catch 22"

[Zoo]

What remedy, if any, could be taken if search engines such a Google, Mozilla, Bing, etc. started writing their programs to exclude/block any search referencing, gun, bullets, cartridges, weapon.....etc? Are there any protections provided legally or are we at their mercy?

My remedy would be to start a company with a silly name like Googun, Gunpile, or BANG! with a 2A-Friendly search engine and related ads and make another million or two. That would stink.

[chuck j]

Get on your telephone and just start calling people , it's worked for about eighty years now . I admit the recordings now do drive you nuts but you have alternative sources , internet aint got it all .

[sjfcontrol]

Googun, Gunpile, or BANG!

I'd use any of those search engines in a New York minute!

[cb1000rider]

What remedy, if any, could be taken if search engines such a Google, Mozilla, Bing, etc. started writing their programs to exclude/block any search referencing, gun, bullets, cartridges, weapon.....etc? Are there any protections provided legally or are we at their mercy?

Why would they do that? These are not government companies. They're private companies. When you search and click, they get paid. And they get paid a LOT.

Take away those search results, consumers (us) will go elsewhere. Sparing you the technical details, even if the USA were to outlaw such search results and mandate compliance at private tech companies, it could be worked around by most moderately intelligent people.

The internet is still kinda wild-west. The technology to regulate all of it worldwide doesn't exist... And to be honest, it'd be a world-wide cooperation problem more than a technology problem.