In my previous post, “Let Freedom Reign?,” I discussed the U.S. government’s censorship of commercial but not political advertising. I explained how misleading ads cannot appear for products like diet pills or even toothpaste; however, it is legal for politicians to broadcast untruths about their opponents.
The debate over political advertising spills over into the Web’s arena. Search engine Google has taken a strong position on the content of its political advertising, making rules that political advertising on its site must not include misleading information or attacks on a candidate’s personal life.
Although this seems to be benign, who decides what stays and what goes on Google? How much censorship is too much? Can the public trust Google to make good judgments?
The fight against net neutrality is spreading across the Web.
According to a CNETnews.com article, “Internet content providers such as Google, Microsoft and Amazon.com” are in favor of net neutrality. But how neutral is the Internet when Google is not allowing it’s searchers to see certain political advertisements that are on other Web sites and even on T.V.?
Wouldn’t you rather use a search engine that displays all the results of your key-word search, and not just what it thinks is politically correct? I know I would.
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