I still don't see it, but Secure Undisclosed Locationville is in the howling and desolate wilderness, and so apparently the change has not reached here yet.
An update on -- and apparent resolution to -- this story. "Exclusive: Islam Is ... Finally Being Fixed on Google," by Jeremy A. Kaplan for FOXNews.com, January 25 (thanks to all who sent this in):
A glitch in the "don't be evil" company's search engine appeared to censor searches for information about Islam. And after nearly three weeks, the company is finally fixing the problem.Type "Christianity is" into Google and you'll get a list of common searches. But the engine appears to suppress results for "Islam is."
After nearly three weeks, Google is finally repairing a glitch that hid search suggestions for the phrase "Islam is," which had led some to conclude that Google -- whose mantra is "don't be evil" -- had been censoring its search results.
A Google spokesman tells FoxNews.com that "the bug fix is in the process of rolling out, and suggestions will be visible within the next few days." Twitter comments from readers across the country confirm Google's statement; reports from Florida, Ohio, New Jersey, Georgia and more concur that the fix is rolling out across the country.
When FoxNews.com had asked Google for an explanation on Jan. 8, a company spokesman explained that the weird absence of results was just a software problem: "This is in fact a bug and we're working to fix it as quickly as we can." But the company would not respond to requests for clarification, nor would it offer a timeline for repairing the problem.
And until this morning, nearly three weeks had elapsed without a patch for the glitch, which clearly turned out to be more complex than initially assumed. When asked this morning for an estimated repair date for the bug, a Google spokesman would say only that the company was working on a fix, adding that "this is not an editorial thing." [...]
An intriguing corollary: Google does offer search suggestions for future tense queries as well. Search for "Christianity will" and Google suggests "Christianity will end, it will disappear," and "Christianity will end." Input the same query about Islam and Google notes that "Islam will dominate the world" and "Islam will destroy Europe."
Did anyone think to type in "muslim is...?" Cuz when I do, it comes up with some lists like "wrong," "islam," "a race," "bullsh*t," "wrong," "a cult."
So maybe it is just a glitch. Or not. Maybe they didn't catch the "muslim is" because they didn't realize how stupid some googlers really are. Sigh.
Just checked, and nope, the "fix" doesn't yet appear. Will keep an eye out to see what, exactly, they have "fixed." But I'm skeptical they'll do it simply and cleanly without at the same time introducing some other, perhaps completely different, effect giving Islam an unfair pass that won't be extended to other religions.
Worked. First search suggestion is "Islam is bullshit."
Problem is NOT fixed!
So Google thinks they are the only smart ones, and everyone else is just plain dumb...
If you type "Islam is", without a space after "is", it returns suggestions, like all other religions (and Atheism).
HOWEVER... if you type "Islam is ", with a space after "is" (and as many will quickly type), you will get NOTHING. All other religions (and Atheism) work just fine, but not islam. Is this their way of compromising, or are they just plain thinking everyone else is too stupid to see through their games?
Shameful. At best.
Problem is NOT fixed!
So Google thinks they are the only smart ones, and everyone else is just plain dumb...
If you type "Islam is", without a space after "is", it returns suggestions, like all other religions (and Atheism).
HOWEVER... if you type "Islam is ", with a space after "is" (and as many will quickly type), you will get NOTHING. All other religions (and Atheism) work just fine, but not islam. Is this their way of compromising, or are they just plain thinking everyone else is too stupid to see through their games?
Shameful. At best.
Off Topic: Dennis Prager nails Charles Johnson over at World Net Daily: An open letter to Charles Johnson
Try "will christianity" and "will islam". (Try the same with communism and capitalism. The results, if they are generated as Google suggests they are, the results are bothersome.)
{^_^}
Back on topic...
I just tried "Islam is" with IE8 under Windows and the popup is now working properly in the Google serach term input field.
I just tested this and the suggested search results popup seems to be working now at Google.
Still not working in Mozilla Firefox.
Fixed for me, using Firefox and Linum Mint (not that I think the engine or OS would make any difference - the search takes place on Googles servers...)
I get after typing Islam is
Bullsh*t
a lie
of the devil
false
not a religion
fake
wrong
Why the outrage that it took 19 days to fix this bug? It's hardly mission-critical. It seems likely that Google has other problems more important than assuaging the paranoid fears of tinfoil hatters.
Its not working with or without space after "is".
I think they have fixed it to test what country you are in first. I am sure if you are in Saudi it is not going to suggest anything negative.
So in the USA it might be working, here in politically correct NZ it is not.
Here in NZ they "know" that terrorism is because of third world poverty and my spending 10 years working in Islamic countries has not given me any insight, rather I have become confused.
I look forward to the somali refugees dishing out some well needed re-education to my NZ friends here.
Agreed.
Not working on this side of the pond. "Christianity is" shows many results.
"Islam is" still shows nothing.
Might be interesting if Mr. Spencer had people write in worldwide regarding their respective countries and whether or not "Islam is" shows suggestions.
Why the outrage that it took 19 days to fix this bug? It's hardly mission-critical. It seems likely that Google has other problems more important than assuaging the paranoid fears of tinfoil hatters.
A bug? Please. The phrase "islam is" was/is obviously being filtered for some reason. What that may be I'm not sure. I tend to lean more towards PC moonbattery rather than nefarious suppression. Either way I think google is lying. A reputation for suppressing searches (outside of china of course) would not be good for business.
Islam is very complicated and yet easy to live in.
It is simple... yet complex.
It has freedoms yet.. you say it is restrictive.
It says that there in no compulsion in Religion, yet you constantly say that it is restrictive.
It is very pure....but you say it is brutish and poorly narrated.
Can you see Google's problem here...they don't know what to write about Islam; You cannot describe what you cannot describe; the English language words would not do it justice, so they simply decide to write nothing.
Google recognises that it is not like other religions, therefore has to be commended for their honesty.
Hello,
Google has not entirely "fixed" this "bug". If you place a space after the word "is" then the search suggestions disappear. Unfortunately, other searches aren't granted this kindness by the Google technicians.
"Islam is" brings up suggestions.
"Islam is " brings up no suggestions.
That being said...
To Mr. Yom_al_Juma,
Islam is... The pure definition of contemporary Evil. It's brutal, bloody, anti-woman, anti-Freedom, anti-Democracy, and barbaric toward the Kufar.
I find your mental gymnastics tedious to watch, Sir.
Very Respectfully,
Doctor CamNC4Me
This filter (islam is…) was meant for Middle Eastern/muslim countries only – try the search through a proxy based in e.g. Saudi Arabia or Bahrain – see what results you get.
Google appeases Arab/muslim countries in the same way it does Chinese.
I tried your suggestion and yes, it seems the space after "is" is important -- and gives different results based on which term precedes "is" --- how could these searches be programmed differently?
As of this morning the 26th, still not showing suggestions.
The worst of this is that Google's founder, Sergey Brin, the developer of Google's technology, is a Russian JEW!!
So what on earth is he doing playing the Dhimmi?? Or has he sold out, or lost control???
Some more research required here!!
Take your mystic rhetoric and go live on top of a mountain in a cave somewhere, far away from the interwebs.
Google isn't supposed to "write about Islam", period.
It's a search engine.
Don't be intentionally stupid just so you can try to puff up your empty fascist ideology into something it's not.
For those of you who still cannot get the search suggestions: have you tried clearing your browser's cache? If the fix for this involves JavaScript, then your browser may still have the old code running in it. Clear the cache and then reload the Google page and try again. If it still isn't working, then Google is probably filtering the results depending on the country of origin for the HTTP request.
Problem fixed here.
not fixed in Oregon Tue 1/26 6:30 AM PT
Now working in Oregon Tue 1/26 6:38 AM PT (with same search criterior
My search is perfect. It says Christianity will rule forever because islam has a paedophile as a prophet who never prophesied anything, except where his next victim child was coming from!!!
The problem is definitely fixed from where I am in Canada.
Google suggestions for Islam is (with or without a space after the is) reveals
bullsh*t,
false,
the light,
wrong,
a lie,
nothing (32.7 million searches, BTW),
a cult,
google (14.9 million searches),
fake,
not a religion.
Anyways, I'm glad Google did fix the problem (at least in my location and several others), and I'm glad that Robert kept track of this.
As I argued before, though, I do not think that this particular case showed that Google was censoring in favour of Islam. (If they were, though, they aren't now, if we take the "Islam is" search suggestions as a crucial test).
A question now, given that Islam is now presented just like other major religions in the search suggestions, is How will Muslim activists react about all these negative suggestions? Will they direct pressure at high levels of authority in Google? Will they flood the net with positive searches involving "Islam is"? Another: How long will Google maintain these flagrantly "Islamophobic" suggestions?
Islam is now works for me on the West Coast of U.S.
HOWEVER, as I've pointed out throughout this affair, "jihad is" is still only displaying positive messages. This may not be Google's fault. It is quite possible that Islamists are gaming the search results by continually searching for things like "jihad is nice". But it should be pointed out...
Is it possible they just got hacked by some pissy muslim? It would explain why they are calling it a bug and will not clarify anything beyond that. They don't want people to know they've had a security breach. And could explain why its taken so damn long to do anything about it.
Works okay in Indonesia
Works OK here.
Or it could be that now that they are giving Chinese Communist Government the Finger?They are back to not been politically correct and are giving Islam the finger also.
Good for you Google.