Post by: Francine Eisner on January 31, 2009, 09:06:09 AM
Francine
The Mac Gardener
Post by: gunug on January 31, 2009, 09:11:30 AM
QUOTE
"It looks like for the moment at least, all Google results are failing the malware checks and being listed with a warning 'This site may harm your computer,' including all pages from Google themselves. Users trying to visit pages at search results will only be able to proceed via manual manipulation of the search result link to remove the Google click-through (which is also broken). Until Google fixes this bug, it looks Google web search is useless."
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/01/31/1457221
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/01/31/1457221
That thread has comments but no other information!
Post by: pendragon on January 31, 2009, 09:14:37 AM
Is it moi or Google?
If it's Google, I wonder what this portends (if anything) for Cloud systems.
Post by: Francine Eisner on January 31, 2009, 09:14:47 AM
QUOTE(gunug @ Jan 31 2009, 10:11 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
This is from Slashdot:
That thread has comments but no other information!
QUOTE
"It looks like for the moment at least, all Google results are failing the malware checks and being listed with a warning 'This site may harm your computer,' including all pages from Google themselves. Users trying to visit pages at search results will only be able to proceed via manual manipulation of the search result link to remove the Google click-through (which is also broken). Until Google fixes this bug, it looks Google web search is useless."
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/01/31/1457221
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/01/31/1457221
That thread has comments but no other information!
Thanks. But I can't believe that there really is malware on every web site a Google search brings up. No one could possibly be that diabolically efficient so as to infect them all.
I was right the first time - Google is nuts (or their software is f*&^%$d...!)
Francine
Post by: Xairbusdriver on January 31, 2009, 09:26:12 AM
Just don't Google to find them! 
Post by: Francine Eisner on January 31, 2009, 09:27:31 AM
Post by: Highmac on January 31, 2009, 11:10:49 AM
QUOTE
I don't want to use Yahoo and I'd rather turn off my computer than use Microsoft's Live search.
Time to see if Alta Vista still exists.
Time to see if Alta Vista still exists.
Post by: Paddy on January 31, 2009, 11:45:24 AM
From http://googleblog.blogspot.com at 12:02 PM EST today:
QUOTE
What happened? Very simply, human error. Google flags search results with the message "This site may harm your computer" if the site is known to install malicious software in the background or otherwise surreptitiously. We do this to protect our users against visiting sites that could harm their computers. We work with a non-profit called StopBadware.org to get our list of URLs. StopBadware carefully researches each consumer complaint to decide fairly whether that URL belongs on the list. Since each case needs to be individually researched, this list is maintained by humans, not algorithms.
We periodically receive updates to that list and received one such update to release on the site this morning. Unfortunately (and here's the human error), the URL of '/' was mistakenly checked in as a value to the file and '/' expands to all URLs. Fortunately, our on-call site reliability team found the problem quickly and reverted the file. Since we push these updates in a staggered and rolling fashion, the errors began appearing between 6:27 a.m. and 6:40 a.m. and began disappearing between 7:10 and 7:25 a.m., so the duration of the problem for any particular user was approximately 40 minutes.
We periodically receive updates to that list and received one such update to release on the site this morning. Unfortunately (and here's the human error), the URL of '/' was mistakenly checked in as a value to the file and '/' expands to all URLs. Fortunately, our on-call site reliability team found the problem quickly and reverted the file. Since we push these updates in a staggered and rolling fashion, the errors began appearing between 6:27 a.m. and 6:40 a.m. and began disappearing between 7:10 and 7:25 a.m., so the duration of the problem for any particular user was approximately 40 minutes.
Someone over at Google is going to be rather embarrassed today!
Post by: Mayo on January 31, 2009, 03:09:57 PM
By Om Malik
Google labeled the entire Internet as malware earlier this morning (between 6:30 a.m. PST and 7:25 a.m. PST), warning visitors that pretty much every web site could harm your computer. The news spread across the blogophere and Twitterverse pretty quickly. Many speculated that the problem arose from Google’s effort to integrate the malware-blocking functionality promoted by stopbadware.org. Google confirmed that in a blog post. “What happened? Very simply, human error,” said Marissa Mayer, V-P of search products & user experience:
We work with a non-profit called StopBadware.org to get our list of URLs. StopBadware carefully researches each consumer complaint to decide fairly whether that URL belongs on the list. Since each case needs to be individually researched, this list is maintained by humans, not algorithms. We periodically receive updates to that list and received one such update to release on the site this morning. Unfortunately (and here’s the human error), the URL of ‘/’ was mistakenly checked in as a value to the file and ‘/’ expands to all URLs.
I have two thoughts about this problem. First, it shows that Google has become the single point of failure in our digital lives, whether we like it or not. These problems — human errors, as Mayer calls them, are not going to go away, as the company becomes bigger, offers more services and extends its control over our digital lives.
Secondly (and more importantly), if all of us are going to be obsessing about Google’s epic fail on a Saturday morning, then maybe the message should have said: “This computer may harm your life.” OK people, go and enjoy the weekend. I am about to do the same!
Post by: Paddy on January 31, 2009, 03:27:59 PM
Human error can cause single points of failure in all sorts of areas of our lives - some of them far more potentially dangerous than any failure of a search engine. The computers and robots haven't taken over quite yet.
Post by: Xairbusdriver on January 31, 2009, 07:14:37 PM
QUOTE("HAL")
The computers and robots haven't taken over quite yet.
