KinderStart Sues Google Over Page Rank

March 20, 2006 By Geoff Duncan

Internet site KinderStart - described as little but a "link farm" - has filed suit against Google for lowering its page ranking.

Internet site KinderStart.com has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District court against search engine Google, claiming the company has unfairly deprived it of customers and revenue by downgrading its ranking in Google’s search results beginning in March 2005. The firm seeks financial damages and demands Google disclose the process by which Google ranks Internet sites in its search results listings.

KinderStart.com describes itself as an indexed directory and search engine for parenting and child care resources, but is described by observers as a “link farm,” a site which

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Ted at 12:20pm 26th March 2006 Search engines arbitrarily outright censor (completely suppress) access by their users to web sites they don't like (not just Chinese web sites). This is not just a “ranking” issue. They also refuse to provide any explanation or describe how a particular “offending” site can be reinstated. Search engine arguments regarding their need for secrecy in this area are largely spurious and allow them to conceal the real reasons behind their censoring of any particular site.

Do they have a perfect right to do this? Legally, the issue is whether a search engine is a “publisher” or a “common carrier”. Currently they enjoy the advantages of both and the responsibilities of neither.

See much more extensive discussion of these issues at: http://www.searchenginehonesty.com/

I have not seen the actual Kinderstart suit but their site is not currently censored by Google.