Posted 8:04 PM by Scoobie Davis

The Ethics of Google Bombing
I have been thinking about the ethics of google bombing recently and today I received an e-mail with the following message:

I thought you libs were all for "Freedom of Speech" - or is that only speech that you agree with? So, just shout down or "google bomb" folks that have other views than yours. Brilliant.

I take everything issue by issue and I suggest you do the same. your life will be healthier and happier and far less stressful.

Previously, I have had people write and make similar complaints. Fair enough. In the next week or so, I will devote a post to the ethics of google bombing.

The reason I had been thinking about ethics and media hacking was because the other day I checked out a g-bomb I constructed a while ago. Quick back story: 1) I spoke with a computer nerd and he spoke of a way in which to gauge the effectiveness of a g-bomb campaign (FYI, I have a google bomb blog). He told me that I needed to deal with pages that are not linked at all to a particular word or phrase to test a campaign. 2) I had recently had the displeasure of meeting Ronald Brownstein at a recent social event (apparetnly Brownstein forgot that it was a social event because he completely harshed my buzz). Even before I found out who Brownstein was and that he was a member of the Washington press corps (not my favorite group of people), I took a dislike to the man.

So after the computer guy told me this, I thought, "How about if I get a site to come up when someone Googles "Ronald Brownstein"? Guess which one of the top ten entries for a Google search is due to me. The reason I had ethical qualms is that I generally think google bombs should be done for informatioanl reasons, not to settle personal scores. E-mail Brownstein at ronald.brownstein@latimes.com and tell him I'm the one responsible.