Googles hidden support for the evils of liberalism

Robert Cox:

Facing a barrage of criticism in the wake of an Examiner report that Google had blocked negative ads at its request, MoveOn.org backed down earlier this week, withdrawing its claim of trademark infringement and renouncing the Google policy it had exploited to preemptively block the ads.

The ads, critical of the “General Betray Us” message MoveOn placed in The New York Times last month, were placed by the campaign of Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.

When asked to comment, Google spokesman Adam Kovacevich said, “MoveOn was one of several trademark owners to have a standing request” and, when the ad came to Google’s attention, the request was acted upon. Kovacevich later acknowledged he does not actually know how many other trademark owners have such a “standing request” on file with Google.

A review of official policies on the Google Web site makes it difficult to understand just how MoveOn made its request in the first place. Google’s “Trademark Complaint Procedures” refers to complaints about existing ads, but there is no mention of “standing requests” and no means to file one.

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However, the “Trademark Complaint Procedures” and “Trademark Complaint Form” do not say anything about “standing requests.” The language used throughout the form makes reference only to complaints filed for existing ads.

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Cox raises several good questions about the Google and MoveOn policies. MoveOn is an entity that does not take criticism well. In fact it has recently tried to shut up critics of its policies by the heavy handed use of it trademark. The funny thing is that Google apparently does not have a similar policy with respect to its trademark and people make fun of the company all the time. Somehow it has survived and thrived. I guess MoveOn is just to fragile to deal with criticism. Hat tip to Mark Tapscott.