This is one of those stories that was obvious from the beginning- if one (since Yahoo barely counts anymore) company controls how people seek information, then they also control people’s access to information. So why not make a profit by selling it for a buck? Or, even if they’re neutral, it creates a system that can be gamed by people who have the money to do so. That’s the sad truth of “One search engine to rule them all”- he who has the gold, makes the rules.
In their most tenacious effort to control the ‘spin’ on the worst oil spill disaster in the history, BP has purchased top internet search engine words so they can re-direct people away from real news on the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe.
BP spokesman Toby Odone confirmed to ABC News that the oil giant had in fact bought internet search terms. So now when someone searches the words ‘oil spill’, on the internet, the top link will re-direct them to BP’s official company website.
Well, I just HAD to try it. Curiously, I didn’t get links to the BP site. Perhaps BP quickly cancelled the search term buyout once people started giving feedback on that particular news-nugget? Sounds like “up to the minute news, on the minute, every minute, throughout the hour.”
BP’s public relations people mustn’t be getting much sleep of late.
Hmm…That’s interesting. Perhaps they did see a storm coming, and quickly withdrew it when someone noticed.
If you want to hear/read something scary about BP, read this NPR article:
http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/2010/06/04/01
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