Saturday, July 5, 2014
Google Is Being Forced To Censor The History Of Merrill Lynch — And That Should Terrify You
The European Union's new law giving people a "right to be forgotten," which requires Google to
Exhibit A: Google was required to delete a link to this BBC article about Stan O'Neal, the former CEO of Merrill Lynch. O'Neal led the bank in the mid-2000s, a period when it became dangerously over-exposed to the looming mortgage crisis. When the crisis hit, Merrill's losses were so great the bank had to be sold to Bank of America. O'Neal lost his job, but he exited with a $161.5 million golden parachute.
There is nothing incorrect in the post, in fact it's a rather mild account of O'Neal's incompetence during the period. O'Neal was forced out of the company after he began discussing selling it without informing his board of directors. This is ancient, well-established history. Having it removed from Google doesn't undo the fact that it happened. But there is a new generation of 25-year-old investment bankers who perhaps do not have a firm grasp of the 2007 crisis that reshaped banking globally. Their grasp will be ever more slightly weaker due to this new law.
"There is an argument that in removing the blog, Google is confirming the fears of many in the industry that the 'right to be forgotten' will be abused to curb freedom of expression and to suppress legitimate journalism that is in the public interest," BBC writer Robert Peston says .
Also, Business Insider previously noted that deletion requests were granted for a former politician who wanted to remove links to a news article about his behavior when previously in office — so that he can have a clean slate when running for a new position — and a man who was convicted of possessing child sexual abuse imagery.
So pedophiles can take advantage of this law as well.
Forget.me, a company that expedites Google deletion requests, tells Business Insider that it is fielding 250 requests per day. Here's a breakdown of what is being deleted from the world's greatest search engine:
Forget.me
It's exactly like the "memory holes" in George Orwell's "1984," in which Big Brother's minions burn information that the government wants people to forget.
But the E.U. law is terrifying for another reason: The entire process is so non-transparent that the consequence for the individual is even worse than what the courts intended.
This excellent discussion from Danny Sullivan at MarketingLand.com shows that even when Google removes links, new ones pop up in their place. And Europeans can get the full, uncensored internet by leaving Google.co.uk and searching at Google.com.
Here's a U.K. search result for the Stan O'Neal article:
(Note the disclosure from Google that its results have been censored.)
Sullivan then searched for the name of the first commenter on the article and got this:
We don't know whether it was O'Neal who asked that the link be removed. In fact, O'Neal's name may be being dragged through the mud unnecessarily here. Peston believes it may be someone mentioned by readers in the comments section under his story about the ruling.
He suggests that as a "Peter Dragomer" search triggers the same disclosure that a result may have been censored, that perhaps it was not O'Neal who requested the deletion. In an amazing coincidence, the person posting as "Peter Dragomer" claims to be an ex-Merrill employee.
Right now, thousands of people probably think that Stan O'Neal is on some quixotic quest to make people forget that he was at the wheel when Merrill drove off a cliff. And there is no evidence that that's the case.
But because the law exists, we have no idea what the truth is.
That ought to worry everyone.
The Complete Guide To Obama’s Scandals, Lies, And Blunders From A-Z
With so many scandals and failures within the Obama White House, it’s hard to keep up with all of them because there are so many. The good news for you is that I’ve compiled an A-Z listing of Obama’s scandals and failures. The bad news, Obama is still the President.A. Associated Press Scandal – Remember this? When Attorney General Eric Holder issued his own subpoena to seize phone records of a journalist? Apparently there was a “leak” and the Obama Administration doesn’t want you thinking for yourself, so he teamed up with his legal lapdog and seized several journalists personal home phone records, as well as many other office documents. I just wish that we had some sort of law that prohibited such things…like freedom of the press, or unlawful search & seizure…something really catchy so we don’t get into this mess again.
B. Benghazi – If you don’t know about this, there is simply no hope for you. Here’s what Jason Mattera had to say when he spoke with the former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about her failure to protect our foreign officials.
C. Chinook Helicopter – This story didn’t get picked up immediately because we were to busy celebrating the death of Osama Bin Laden, but shortly after the successful raid, 38 people died when an RPG shot down a Chinook helicopter on Aug 6, 2011. Official reports have been released but with many details left out, and still virtually no answers from the White House about why this team was sent out in a hostile environment unprepared to handle any level of violence.
D. Drones – The infamous unmanned aircraft that can wage wars while you’re sipping a big gulp happens to be Barack Obama’s favorite method of killing. Of course, naturally, drones started towards the end of Bush 2’s presidency, but absolutely skyrocketed once Obama took office. It’s even been said that under G.W. there was a drone attack every 43 days, but under the Obama administration, there was a drone attack every four days. The ironic thing is that Obama currently holds a Nobel Peace Prize. The sad thing is that he is become really good at killing.
E. Eric Holder – America’s dickhead neighborhood watchman, and 82nd Attorney General of the United States is the only sitting cabinet member to be held in contempt of Congress. In fact, there probably isn’t a scandal on this list that he wasn’t a part of in some fashion.
F. Fort Hood – What do you get when you take a practicing Muslim who makes anti-american statements, and associates with suspected terrorists, and combine it with a President who couldn’t care less? You get the 2009 Fort Hood shooting where 13 people lost their lives to Nidal Malik Hasan, an army major who declared his wanting to defend the lives of his Taliban leaders. The President was criticized for his refusal to acknowledge that the shooting was an act of terrorism and deemed it as “Workplace Violence”.
G. Guantanamo – No doubt, this is the joker in Obama’s deck. Whenever he needs public support behind him, no matter what scandal is public, he will bust out closing Guantanamo forever. Say anything you can to win, right?
H. Healthcare.gov – For the .000001% who were not around for the disastrous rollout of President Obama’s signature “accomplishment”, here’s the gist of it…Obama force-fed a crappy law on the American People, that they didn’t even read, and the website didn’t work. If this still isn’t registering with you, here’s a list of American accomplishments that took less time to build than healthcare.gov
I. IRS Scandal – Now according to the President, there is not one smidgen of corruption within the IRS. But according to everyone else in the country, B.O. was using the IRS to bully conservative groups that were filing for tax-exempt status. As pathetic as that sounds, it’s true, and the finger is pointed directly at the President. God Bless America
J. Jay Carney – He’s the guy your mother forced you to have play dates with in grade school. Think back, I’m sure there was someone like that in your elementary school. If not…then this just got real awkward, real quick. Anyway, Jay Carney grew up to be a White House Press Secretary, an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, working for the President of The United States. You’re forever ingrained in the history books, one can only dream of such an opportunity…but then again, would you want his gig? Anyway, the reason Jay is on this list is weird, because if you worked for the highest office, especially one under this administration knowing that your every mistake is going to be scrutinized, wouldn’t you hide your soviet-era propaganda away from photographers? I mean, at least TRY to seem like you’re not an anti-capitalist? But take a look at a recent photoshootwith the Carney family for MOM magazine. It’s almost like staring into the future.
K. Keystone Pipeline – The 1,700 mile, $7 billion project that would deliver over 700,000 barrels of oil per day has been a source of contention between democrats and republicans for a few years now. The split seems obvious but when you dig a little deeper you can see some heavy-hitting political donors that are paying politicians for their opposition to it. Despite that even former President Bill Clinton supports the pipeline.
L. Lobbyist – In 2007, Candidate Barack Obama vowed that the days of “lobbyist running the agenda were over” and claimed that they would not work in his White House. He must have forgotten about his promise, because he’s hired over 100 lobbyists that fund his campaign, set the agenda and work in his White House. It seems to me that the problem isn’t the lobbyist, but rather the politician who can’t keep his hands in his own pockets.
M. Monsanto – Is the world’s leading producer of genetically modified foods, which means that they’re the company who openly put toxins, allergens, and diseases in our food, which is super gross, and why I prefer to eat organic foods (don’t hate). In 2007 Obama campaigned against this, seemed reasonable at the time, but there is a big difference between Obama pre/post-election. Even Mother Jones is pissed, because Obama ended up appointing the head of Monsanto to run the FDA shortly after his first election. I’m not joking.
N. NSA – Ahh the National Security Agency. A place of fearless leadership where brave men and women stand to protect us from anything that goes bump in the night, regardless of civil liberties and that pesky little thing we call a Constitution. What started under Bush 2—as the “Patriot Act” (you remember)—became a campaign slogan for the Junior Senator Barack Obama running for President, as something that violated our right to privacy and vowed to end it. Except the last part didn’t happen, instead, the warrantless government spying increased dramatically over the next couple of years under his administration, and he would have gotten away with it to, if it wasn’t for that pesky consultant Edward Snowden…who now sits in Russia as Putin’s guest.
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