Steve Lipman
A month after a petition campaign sought to stop the Google on-line
search engine from listing the anti-Semitic jewwatch.com Web site in
the first position for the search for “Jew,” Jew Watch has taken a
significantly lower spot in the Google ranking system.
Google has also posted an ad stating that they are disturbed by the
results for that search but explaining that it never tampers with
search results.
A Google spokesman said the change in Jew Watch’s ranking was
unrelated to the Internet campaign conducted by Brooklyn resident
Steven Weinstock and a request from Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), but
Google assured the Anti-Defamation League that the search engine is
considering modifications that will permit better identification and
categorization of offensive Web sites.
In a letter to the ADL, Google President Sergey Brin apologized to
users upset by Jew Watch. “We are extremely pleased,” ADL national
director Abraham Foxman said. “Google has shown great responsiveness to
this issue.”
Jew Watch now appears at about No. 50 in a search for “Jew,”
reportedly because the site was inaccessible for a few days. It is
expected to move up in the rankings in the next few weeks. As of
midweek, the top slot was held by en.wikepedia.org, an Internet
encyclopedia. The site reportedly gained the position through the
efforts of Daniel Sieradski, editor of “Jewschool,” a Web site for
Jewish news. According to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Sieradski
launched a “Google bomb,” campaign in which many sites linked to
en.wikepedia.org in order to move it up in Google’s rankings. | 
Click Here to Print