Re: [Marxism] Google was hacked!!!!

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

NY Times, February 1, 2009
Google Error Sends Warning Worldwide
By LIZ ROBBINS

Google’s Internet search service malfunctioned for nearly 55 minutes 
Saturday morning, upending users around the world with search results 
that carried false safety warnings and Web links that did not work.

The company acknowledged Saturday that all searches produced links with 
the same warning message: “This site may harm your computer.” Clicking 
on any of the links led to an error message stating that the desired 
site could not be reached.

“What happened?” Google explained in its blog. “Very simply, human error.”

Google said it periodically updates its list of sites suspected of 
carrying dangerous software that could harm computers, and that Saturday 
morning a Google employee mistyped a Web address for one such site, 
causing all sites to be flagged harmful.

There was some momentary tension when Google seemed to imply that the 
glitch was caused by StopBadware.org, the company that helps Google 
determine which sites are unsafe. Google later posted a statement that 
took the blame for the error.

“We have a good ongoing relationship with StopBadware.org,” a Google 
spokesman, Gabriel Stricker, said in a telephone interview. “In our 
post, we tried to clarify our role in this error.”

Google is not known for glitches, but there have been other recent ones. 
Google Maps had a software glitch last month that sent drivers trying to 
get to different points within Staten Island, specifically zip codes 
10302 and 10308, on a 176-mile detour to Schenectady instead.

The glitches in Google Maps and Google search were unrelated, Mr. 
Stricker said. As for Saturday’s search engine failure, he added: “Our 
Web search is extremely reliable, and that’s why when an interruption 
occurs, even if it’s for a matter of minutes, for a Saturday morning, 
people notice it.”


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