But it got better.
Google has the capacity to place a sentence just underneath the title of a web site on a Google Search that says "This site may harm your computer."
Apparently, over the last several hours, Google started labeling every site on the internet with this sentence. Then it stopped.
Some people think it was a temporary coup at Google. Others are saying it was just a bug. I trust that it was neither, and I chose to believe that it was simply an accurate warning. I believe Teh Internets was making a bit of a sharp turn around some cosmic corner during the wee hours of the morning and everything became temporarily dangerous. Thank you Google for keeping an iEye on us.
Comments
Their outsourced StopBadware went bad - that was the cause.
Posted by: Coturnix | January 31, 2009 10:44 AM
I was looking for some resources for a lonely atheist in Chicago, and I thought that some anti-atheist group had put some malware on the atheists.org site.
Posted by: Mike Haubrich, FCD | January 31, 2009 11:46 AM
Ooh, it was worse than that. Ikea was down too, which is tragic when you, say, need shelves to replace the ones that fell off the wall.
Posted by: Stephanie Z | January 31, 2009 12:05 PM
Your shelves fell off the wall????????
Posted by: Greg Laden | January 31, 2009 12:53 PM
The cables that connect the internet under the ocean went wonky? (Undersea cables cut in December, link here)
Posted by: Lilian Nattel | January 31, 2009 1:03 PM
Who does Google outsource to? I thought they were everything and everybody!
Posted by: Mike Haubrich, FCD | January 31, 2009 1:06 PM
Yeah. Landed on my computer, which is somehow fine. While we were at SO09. Not really sure what the cats were up to.
Posted by: Stephanie Z | January 31, 2009 1:55 PM
Yes, I was Googling this morning for parts for a Toyota (of all things) and the search for every Toyota parts supplier was flagged by Google as "unhealthy" for computers and other living things. It was strange.
Posted by: Hal in Howell MI | January 31, 2009 1:55 PM
I generally do not install bookshelves on walls.
Posted by: Greg Laden | January 31, 2009 4:40 PM
The replacements are freestanding--and kinda funky.
Posted by: Stephanie Z | January 31, 2009 7:55 PM
"Thank you Google for keeping an iEye on us."
iEye?
Posted by: Aaron Golas | February 1, 2009 10:17 AM
Aaron: Level I. iEye I = "Ai-yi-yi".
"The Internet Considered as a Case of Persistent Malware."
The 2000 and 2004 US Presidential Elections were among the side-effects.
Posted by: Pyre | February 4, 2009 10:54 PM
Readers may not be aware that Greg Laden is a pioneer in biologically implanted bookshelves. Rather than leave the shelves at stationary locations such as walls, Greg has found useful roles for household pets and family members, whom he can summon to wherever he is studying when he needs their categories of reading materials. A few bird-whistle noises tempt his cat closer when he needs a small paperback, just as spoken coaxing attracts his wife when he needs a heavier textbook. From each according to their ability, etc.
Posted by: Pyre | February 4, 2009 11:05 PM