

Google logo blacked out on all search results (in US) - dvdhsu
https://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=hacker+news

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dvdhsu
Here's a screenshot. Sorry for forgetting you foreign folks.

<http://i.imgur.com/JBf8B.jpg>

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marquis
Is that all they did? A skewed blacked out logo? I hardly saw it. I was hoping
for something a little more dramatic rather than something I would pass off as
a glitch on the internet.

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gry
The home page is jarring.

<http://imgur.com/aLjTP>

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lusr
TBH I never visit the homepage anymore (I never see the cool logos people end
up talking about; I start up with about:blank for performance). I just search
straight from the address bar, and in that respect the small logo change in
the search results doesn't seem very effective at making a statement. I assume
enough other people still visit the homepage for it to matter, though?

~~~
waxjar
I hate to generalise, but in my personal experience people that are somewhat
less computer literate do indeed visit the homepage to search. I've seen my
parents do it countless times, even though I told them searching from the
address bar is possible. My guess is that precisely these people are less
likely to know about SOPA and its implications.

It raises the question, would these people notice the logo change and would
they even be bothered to check out what it means?

~~~
lusr
Hmmm that's a good point. I already know what I'm looking at, and the
significance, so I'm not really in the target audience. I also don't live in
the US, so I had to proxy through one of my servers to see what the effect was
like. That brief exposure I had probably isn't quite the same as seeing it
throughout the day, as Americans will.

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mc32
The captions under the numbers on the graphic in the PDF are way too small.
Even zoomed in 800% they're barely readable.

~~~
dmix
The use of a PDF for an infographic was a very poor choice. The design of it
was very unusable for a browser, since its really wide and detailed.

This page is much more interesting and should of been the homepage:
<https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/sopa-pipa/>

~~~
dangrossman
They didn't link to a PDF originally, but the viewer they linked to was
configured incorrectly. Rather than continue showing an error message, they
replaced it with a direct link to the PDF. Hopefully they'll change it to
something else at some point this morning.

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shaggyfrog
My fellow Canadians and I should also be seeing this. We inevitably get
Canadian-ized versions of all these American bills shoved down our throats,
after they pass in the US, especially with the current government in power.

~~~
pasbesoin
<http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/6244/125/>

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aikinai
It looks like they've still got some kinks to iron out. On the Take Action
page, I'm getting a server error on the right and when I try to open the PDF
it goes to a Google Docs page that tells me I don't have permission.

~~~
waiwai933
If you remove the "s" from the "https" in the URL (not the protocol, but
there's one in the URL itself), it should work.

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paulitex
Could someone please post a screenshot for those of us outside the US?

~~~
adamrmcd
A screenshot of the full google.com page for US users:

[https://plus.google.com/116116954741672937645/posts/3cR4xcVi...](https://plus.google.com/116116954741672937645/posts/3cR4xcViQmR)

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teja1990
Its really good way to create awareness. People love google doodles , and
something black will make them click , atleast out of curiosity :)

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matdwyer
Must be geotargeted as the google.com logo for searches in Canada aren't
black.

It does say "Tell Congress: Please don't censor the web!"

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FlightOfGrey
A Google representative said "So tomorrow we will be joining many other tech
companies to highlight this issue on our U.S. home page." (from the article)

So only the US google home page will be affected.

~~~
matdwyer
Yes - when we go to Google.com, it redirects us automatically to google.ca.
That being said, we can click "go to google.com" and it usually shows the US
version.

~~~
adamrmcd
It looks like the server that provides the image uses an GeoIP lookup, and
only if you're in the US will it display the blackened logo.

I'm in Canada, but only when I proxy through my US server do I see the
sopa/google logo.

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knome
[http://www.google.comhttps//www.google.com/landing/takeactio...](http://www.google.comhttps//www.google.com/landing/takeaction/)

If there is anyone here from or with contacts to google, my igoogle banner
links to this instead of the proper url. Oops.

edit: nevermind, they seem to have noticed

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tokenadult
My iGoogle home page is always buggy (sometimes it shows the gadgets I have
chosen, but many times it does not, probably because I also use Ghostery).
This evening it is showing the blacked-out Google logo sometimes when I reload
it, but usually showing the normal iGoogle logo along with my chosen theme's
background image.

AFTER EDIT: Like a lot of Chrome users, I normally do my Google searches
directly from my URL bar. Sure enough, every results page shows the black-out
over the Google logo. This too will get plenty of attention in the United
States. But clicking the logo only shows me (in this case) my usual Google
pull-downs to specialized Google locations like my Google+ page, Images (which
doesn't have its logo blacked out), and so forth. The "Search" choice from the
pull-down leads to a main Google search page with a very obvious black-out,
which reveals mouse-over text saying "Tell Congress: Please don't censor the
Web!"

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dmix
I thought it was a glitch until I went onto hacker news and saw this post.

I was expecting a blackout and still didnt notice it. I cant imagine many
other non-technical users would.

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dewhiskeys
I can't reach google.com in any way and that makes me feel like they don't
want to let me know about anti-PIPA/SOPA protest. They are really making 2
internets.

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dan00
What is the point of a black out against restrictions, if you can still do
everything, if you can't feel it, by being restricted?

~~~
lambada
Google decided it would be more beneficial (to tyhem, or to the cause) by just
raising awareness and still providing the useful information the user wants.

Blackout -> User sees it once and goes to SearchEngineX, forgetting all about
it. Google's Way -> Raise awareness each time the user sees it as they won't
go to a different Search Engine.

A full blackout works for wikipedia, because people probably don't know about
any alternative - especially with their pages dominating search results. But
with Google, most people know of Bing or Yahoo at the very least.

~~~
TeMPOraL
Even Wikipedia's blackout is not full, and quite easy to go around if you know
magic tricks like disabling JavaScript or CSS in the browser. While commercial
damage is likely a very important consideration to Google, another reason
might be that shutting down Google completely would most likely result in
damage to human health and/or loss of lives.

~~~
whileonebegin
While that may be true, I was thinking it was more due to their obligation to
their shareholders.

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zerostar07
Be more dramatic: "Proposed law requires us to censor these search results"

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exit
> "Tell Congress: Please don't censor the web!"

"please"? that's pathetic. like a child asking to stay up past 8.

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metra
With Google changing their logo every couple of days, this statement carries
much less impact than any other site's protest. I wish they changed something
more than just the logo. I wouldn't be surprised if many users don't even
notice.

