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Google: Not Nirvana fans, apparently.

Hacker collective uncovers 'blacklisted' Google Instant terms

Exploiting the new ‘Google Instant’, users discover search terms that Google deliberately keeps blank.

A COLLECTIVE OF HACKERS have published a list of 15 terms it believes Google has ‘blacklisted’ – so that anyone searching for the terms on the site’s latest tool is shown a blank page.

The publishers of The Hacker Quarterly has exploited the new Google Instant – which returns search results as the user types, without them needing to hit the Enter key – by reverse-engineering the site to discover terms that the site has automatically deemed inappropriate.

For the terms identified, some of the content automatically returned was deemed inappropriate for all users, and thus required the user to at least hit the return key before the content will display.

Not surprisingly, many of the terms are related to adult entertainment – though some will raise eyebrows for being deemed ‘inappropriate’ by the search giant, while other terms tested by the hackers had no such problems.

For example, while ‘lesbian’ or ‘Latina’ returned a blank screen before the user hit ‘Enter’, terms like “how to commit genocide” was not blocked.

The terms include:

  • ‘Barenaked Ladies’, a Canadian rock band (while The New Pornographers also suffer)
  • ‘Meats’
  • ‘Panties’ (blacklisted after you type ‘E’; typing ‘N’ returns results for Pantene shampoo)
  • ‘Tea Bagging’
  • ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ – most terms with the word ‘teen’ are blacklisted, including this 1991 Nirvana hit
  • ‘Dirty Pillows’ – a euphemism
  • ‘Shrimping’ – apparently not merely the act of fishing for shrimp
  • ‘Pamela Anderson’
  • ‘Webcam’
  • ‘Sasha Grey’ – an adult actress trying to move into more traditional movies
  • ‘Paris Hilton’
  • ‘Cream Pie’
  • ‘Camel Toe’
  • ‘Phone Sex’ (surprise)
  • ‘Beaver Lips’
  • ‘Babes in Toyland’ – a 1961 Disney movie
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