Google Claims Conservative Website ‘May Harm Your Computer’

December 28th, 2007 3:30 PM

A funny thing happens if you Google the name of one of America's leading conservative magazines: a warning comes up stating, "This site may harm your computer."

Think I'm kidding?

A screen-capture of the first page of Google web search results for "American Spectator" follows, although readers are strongly encouraged to investigate for themselves (image is blurry due to space constraints):

If you click on the link "This site may harm your computer," the following explanation appears:

Why do some of my search results say "This site may harm your computer?"

We want our users to feel safe when they search the web, and we're continuously working to identify dangerous sites and increase protection for our users. This warning message appears with search results we've identified as sites that may install malicious software on your computer:

If you click the title of the result, you'll be shown the following warning rather than being taken immediately to the webpage in question:

You can choose to continue to the site at your own risk. However, please be aware that malicious software is often installed without your knowledge or permission when you visit these sites, and can include programs that delete data on your computer, steal personal information such as passwords and credit card numbers, or alter your search results. For more information on these types of sites, please visit StopBadware.org

If one of these sites downloads malicious software onto your computer, please read our additional information about reporting these sites and removing the software from your system.

If you're the administrator of a site we've identified with this warning message, please visit the instructions found in our Webmaster Help Center.

Fascinating, wouldn't you agree? Think this is just a coincidence, and plenty of top-rated liberal websites have the same warning?

Reporting from suddenly stormy southern Florida putting my vacation on temporary hold for your benefit. :-)