[akula]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060319/...gle_lawsuit_dc

SAN FRANCISCO, March 18 (Reuters) - A parental advice Internet site has sued Google Inc., charging it unfairly deprived the company of customers by downgrading its search-result ranking without reason or warning.


The civil lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in San Jose, California, on Friday by KinderStart.com seeks financial damages along with information on how Google ranks Internet sites when users conduct a Web-based search.

Google could not immediately be reached for comment but the company aggressively defends the secrecy of its patented search ranking system and asserts its right to adapt it to give customers what it determines to be the best results.

KinderStart charges that Google without warning in March 2005 penalized the site in its search rankings, sparking a "cataclysmic" 70 percent fall in its audience -- and a resulting 80 percent decline in revenue.

At its height, KinderStart counted 10 million page views per month, the lawsuit said. Web site page views are a basic way of measuring audience and are used to set advertising rates.

"Google does not generally inform Web sites that they have been penalized nor does it explain in detail why the Web site was penalized," the lawsuit said.

While an entire sub-industry exists to help Web sites feature prominently in Google results, the company is known to punish those who try to trick the system into boosting their search rankings.

The lawsuit notes that rival search systems from Microsoft Corp.'s MSN and Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news) feature Kinderstart.com at the top of their rankings when the name "Kinderstart" is typed in.

The complaint accuses Google, as the dominant provider of Web searches, of violating KinderStart's constitutional right to free speech by blocking search engine results showing Web site content and other communications.

KinderStart contends that once a company has been penalized, it is difficult to contact Google to regain good standing and impossible to get a report on whether or why the search leader took such action.

The suit was filed the same day a federal judge denied a U.S. government request that Google be ordered to hand over a sample of keywords customers use to search the Internet while requiring the company to produce some Web addresses indexed in its system.

[Antdizzle]

How can Google block someone's right to free speech? The constitution only provides protection from the government.

[akula]

Originally Posted by Antdizzle

How can Google block someone's right to free speech? The constitution only provides protection from the government.

that's a great point, any US lawyers in da house?

[GriZzly]

Originally Posted by Antdizzle

How can Google block someone's right to free speech? The constitution only provides protection from the government.

Well that's not actually true, the US constitution applies to all American citizens on a dynamic relationship base. It can be used person to person or in a top down government relationship and even inter-governmental. But then there is the problem of internet in the first place. Its nature means that the internet is not American...so do you apply the constitution only to websites hosted on servers on American soil? After all the websites visitors and google's visitors are not all Americans.

To be honest with you I think the right to freedom of speech applies here...but in reverse. Google being a free service has the company goal of providing the best service to its customers...the person searching. So they should be able to retain the right to freedom of speech...and that comes with the freedom to not only publish what they like...but also not to publish.

[jpmorgan13]

kinderstart itself is a search engine. I am wondering if they are willing to produce the same documents they are asking Google to produce? Does someone have a constitutional right to a good search listing? I am not sure Google should be forced to give up their patented formula. If that is done, people will know how to manipulate the system so that an undeserving site might be at the top listing. hmmm.

[Jeff]

This blows my mind. KinderStart was not paying for any service, they were relying on a FREE service from another company. They were not using adwords just riding the search engine rankings.

That would like me suing my local TV station if I had recieved an influx of customers from a story they covered on my self and then they didnt run it again the next day.

I fail to see their ground of the lawsuite.

[Drew]

I agree with Jeff. I understand that Google's algorithm can be sticky and cryptic to navigate, but unless you're paying for Adwords, Google can list its results in any order it damn well pleases. Freedom of speech factors more into Google's right to choose which order it lists websites than Kinderstart's ability to advertise on a free search engine.

It is a bit of a paradox though. Google is the largest search engine on the net and therefore the most powerful form of internet advertising. Most websites simply cannot survive without having a high page ranking on one of the major search engines, and the website owners cannot contact Google to find out why they have been demoted. This is simply another example of how Google has waaaaaaay too much power. With literally a click of a button, Google could destroy businesses all across the country.

[jpmorgan13]

Originally Posted by Drew

I agree with Jeff. I understand that Google's algorithm can be sticky and cryptic to navigate, but unless you're paying for Adwords, Google can list its results in any order it damn well pleases. Freedom of speech factors more into Google's right to choose which order it lists websites than Kinderstart's ability to advertise on a free search engine.

It is a bit of a paradox though. Google is the largest search engine on the net and therefore the most powerful form of internet advertising. Most websites simply cannot survive without having a high page ranking on one of the major search engines, and the website owners cannot contact Google to find out why they have been demoted. This is simply another example of how Google has waaaaaaay too much power. With literally a click of a button, Google could destroy businesses all across the country.

Isnt the business at fault for relying on something (search engine ranking) that is out of their control, unless they use adwords? I mean, if I am setting up a business like Kinderstart, am I smart to rely on my listing in Google? What about Kinderstart's competitor? Don't they have a right to a good search engine ranking?

If I Google Pizza, there are a million pizza places out their wanting that great search ranking. In this case, why doesn't Kinderstart just pay for it? That might be cheaper than taking Google to court.

[jdoc]

I agree with everyone who said that KinderStart has a pretty baseless case. Get over it and use adwords to get traffic.

Another point of interest is that its audience fell 70% when its page ranking fell. If it was a site that had any repeat business (ie. people saw value in what it was offering and came back), then there traffic rates would have only gone sideways instead of dropping.

[toptemp]

Wow. Either this company is really smart or really stupid. I guess we'll find out, lol