Google thinks Ashley Cole is gay too
Wednesday, March 8th, 2006
(Click to enlarge)
Google is in a spot of bother with Ashley Cole’s legal advisors, over why a search for the footballers name yields results with the word “gay” in it.
As can be seen in this screenshot, googles search suggestion offers “ashley cole gay” as an alternate query to use.
Not only does Google try to give suggestions for mispelled words or words it doesn’t recognise, but also tries to give suggestions for other similar (perhaps popular) search phrases based on the initial one supplied.
“I am keen to find out whether the decision to automatically include the term ‘gay’ to the keyword “Ashley Cole” was an editorial decision or one made by a computer based on the volume of searches for ‘Ashley Cole’ linked to the word ‘gay’,” said Graham Shear, Cole’s solicitor.
“I would be interested in when and what prompted this and whether the process started since we launched the cases against the News of the World and The Sun or before.”
Link (Time Online)