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January 11, 2007, 01:20 PM ET
Blacklisted for 'Badware'
Last summer Google escalated the war against "badware" -- maliciously designed software that could pose security risks for computer users -- by marking Web sites that distribute the stuff with a digital scarlet letter. Whenever a Web surfer clicks through from Google to a site that's purported to spread badware, an interstitial Web page pops up, stating in no uncertain terms that "visiting this Web site may harm your computer!"
Garett Rogers, of ZDNet's Googling Google blog, says such stern warnings can be valuable to Web surfers -- as long as they're not made in error. But what happens, he wonders, "when a good site gets blacklisted?"
The Greenbush Southeast Kansas Education Service Center appears to have one such site. The center's page, which includes a number of educational podcasts and news bulletins, looks perfectly harmless. But anyone who finds Greenbush on Google and clicks through will be told the site is a safety hazard.
For Greenbush, this could be seriously bad news, and the education center may not even know it has been singled out as a badware merchant, according to Mr. Rogers. "I don't know if this already happens, but Google should contact Web site owners before their site is flagged with an explanation why," he writes, "even if it has to be automated." --Brock Read
Categories: Search-Engines, Leadership
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