Three Conspiracy Theories (and One Black Helicopter) Concerning Comcast and Google
update: After talking to some people who have the wrong impression of this post, I'd just like to clear things up by saying yes, Comcast probably just had a DNS problem and yes, it would be very silly for them to intentionally block Google. It just doesn't make sense for them to block Google, especially after Comcast's COO said last week that Comcast would be shooting itself in the foot if it blocked access to any sites. Just so we're clear. *** When I posted that bit about Comcast and Google yesterday, I swear I didn't think many folks would care. But all of a sudden I started getting these quacky e-mails about how Comcast was intentionally blocking Google, or how Google was intentionally blocking Comcast, or how Google was financing a paramilitary force with black helicopters in the foothills of Massachusetts. And that's odd, because I didn't even know Massachusetts had foothills. I did finally get in touch with Comcast. The representative was very nice and cooperative. But she refused to give me any information beyond the prepared statement, which said a DNS server in the region had malfunctioned, was turned off, and traffic had been redirected. The conversation went something like this: Which region did you say? Were any other sites besides Google affected? Well pardon me. Please, allow me to be your mouthpiece. But after talking to my editor, I can understand where they're coming from. From Comcast's point of view, the danger now is that some Congressional staffer in Washington or California is going interpret the Comcast problem as a net neutrality issue and forward this to their boss. And that boss, who probably subscribes to the tube theory of the Internet, will think hey, here's a great chance to bring up net neutrality legislation again. And then, two years from now, we'll have some yahoo in a congressional chamber saying, "We need net neutrality legislation--remember that Comcast thing with Google?" Here's hoping that doesn't happen. And anyway, the problem seems resolved now. But just for fun, here are the top three conspiracy theories sent via e-mail and IM about the event. 1. Dark Fiber. Google lit up a bunch of its new dark fiber. When it updated their DNS entries the update was somehow lost by the Comcast server. 2. Politics. "Interesting coincidence that the Google problem happened at the same time AOL was publishing people's search terms and the Republican National Committee was accusing the Democratic National Committee of partisan shot-taking after the DNC sent a letter to the RNC letting the RNC know that the e-mails of people who registered on its Web site were visible to anyone who registered." Right. And if you rearrange the letters spelling Comcast and assign numbers to each, then add them up, it proves you're good at math but bad at reality. 3. Begun, these net neutrality wars have. My favorite comment from Digg: "this is a completely retarded comment. the search feature on comcast's website is powered by google. comcast isn't blocking shit. stop being STUPID." If you would like to contribute to the conspiracy theory pot, by all means, leave a comment. Personally, I take Comcast at its word. But then I live in a reinforced bunker and subsist on fava beans. So there's that. |
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Comments (6)
Here is the real conspiracy from Google Google is again embroiled in a censorship farce after its Google Video sub-division was caught altering viewing statistics for Alex Jones' Terror Storm documentary, resetting runaway growth curbs to prevent the video making the website's top ten and its online viewership exploding exponentially. Following last week's buzz about Terror Storm being available for viewing free on Google Video, numerous websites linked to our promo page and as a result viewing figures for all versions of Terror Storm at Google Video began to climb rapidly. However, upon checking the same viewer figures on Sunday, Alex Jones noticed that many had been reset to zero and had only begun to climb into the hundreds and early thousands, nowhere near their previous levels of tens and hundreds of thousands for the previous days. The trends had been artificially reversed and this prevented Terror Storm from entering the top ten list of Google Video which would have ensured an explosion of further circulation of the video. As you can see from the screenshot a reader e mailed us, Terror Storm was being highlighted as one of Google Video's most popular selections and was heading for the top ten, until late Saturday/early Sunday when viewership totals for the video were inexplicably reset. CLICK TO ENLARGE Is this another mistake on the part of Google or is it an attempt to minimize the impact of Terror Storm and prevent it from mirroring the same online presence as Loose Change? This is not the first time we have caught Google engaging in censorship of Alex Jones and his websites. During our Charlie Sheen coverage, Google intentionally blocked news stories pertaining to Sheen's comments which were first made on the Alex Jones Show and turned into a nationwide media spectacle. "The DVD of the resistance!" Get TerrorStorm on DVD today! Subscribe to Prison Planet.tv and see it in high quality or watch it for free at Google Video Even after the story had gone supernova, and our original write-up had been linked all over the web, including the Drudge Report, Google's main search engine did not list the article. After we blew the whistle on this act of censorship, the story was re-listed and Google even began carrying some of our content in their news section - a practice that has now also ceased. Google's penchant for abandoning their founding principle of "don't be evil" and kissing up to Communist China for privileged access into the world's biggest untapped Internet market, was exemplified in February this when Google completely erased the Space War website from its search engine. Space War is a large mainstream news website that carries articles about geopolitics and the defense industry from AFP. Space War speculated that it was their reporting on advancements in China's military technology and missile programs that provoked a censorship order from the totalitarian Chinese government which Google acted upon. Again, after a mass e mailing campaign which we fully supported, Google re-indexed the Space War website. We hope that by drawing attention to this matter Google will remedy the artificial alteration, whether a result of technical gremlins or deliberate censorship, and enable an accurate and true reflection of the growth and popularity of Terror Storm.
Posted by big brother | September 27, 2006 10:10 AM
I have no particular love for Comcast, but it does sound like little more than a malfunctioning DNS server. Had Comcast wanted to block access to Google services, they would have just blocked the traffic, not fat-fingered some DNS entires. A good way to prevent problems like these is to use OpenDNS (http://www.opendns.com/). You can free yourself from ISP DNS foulups, and get anti-phishing protections to boot. Having said that, I am in complete agreement with the person responsible for the second theory.
Posted by Wayne | September 27, 2006 10:35 AM
My mom hit the delete key and wiped out the whole eastern seaboard. From the pacific Northwest. How's that for a theory.
Posted by Art | September 27, 2006 1:06 PM
Sometimes a broken DNS server is just a broken DNS server.
Posted by armchair psychiatrist | September 28, 2006 8:38 AM
I work with one of the interested parties in the net neutrality fight, Hands Off, on the anti-regulation side. And this isn't the first time a temporary technical outage has raised cries of intentional blocking. Last time it was Cox in California, re: Craigslist. Many hairs were pulled out by conspiracists that Cox was trying to block CL because it was arguably a competitor, but it turned out to be a software error on CL's part. This sounds much the same, but I wouldn't be surprised if conspiracy theories are hatched -- they've largely described the tactics of the pro-regulation side all summer.
Posted by ghoti06 | September 28, 2006 9:26 AM
Huh?
Posted by Booh | September 28, 2006 9:26 PM