Google Shopping Restricting References to Guns...

[Yankeejib]

You might want to consider:

Google Censors Guns, Ammo and Accessories - Guns & Ammo

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[Flasher]

Has anyone else heard about this? Google Shopping is restricting all references to guns (weapons), ammo and gun-related accessories in the interest of "safety." To my reading, it seems that they are attempting to equate gun ownership/shopping/sales to "Scams, phishing, viruses and other malicious activities..." Really?

HamLund Tactical received this email and posted it on 68forums.com...

Dear Merchant,

We're writing to let you know about some upcoming changes to the product listings you submit to Google. As we recently announced, we are starting to transition our shopping experience to a commercial model that builds on Product Listing Ads. This new shopping experience is called Google Shopping. As part of this transition, we'll begin to enforce a set of new policies for Google Shopping in the coming weeks. A new list of the allowed, restricted, and prohibited products on Google Shopping is available on our new policy page - Google Shopping policies - Google Merchant Center Help.

Based on a review of the products you're currently submitting, it appears that some of the content in your Merchant Center account, HamLund Tactical, will be affected by these policy changes. In particular we found that your products may violate the following policies:

Weapons

When we make this change, Google will disapprove all of the products identified as being in violation of policies. We ask that you make any necessary changes to your feeds and/or site to comply, so that your products can continue to appear on Google Shopping.

To help you through this new set of policies and how to comply with them, we would like to give you some specific suggestions regarding the changes needed to keep your offers running on Google Shopping.

Weapons

As highlighted on our new policy page Google Shopping policies - Google Merchant Center Help, in order to comply with the Google Shopping policies you need to comply first with the AdWords policies AdWords Policy Center - Advertising Policies Help. We do not allow the promotion or sale of weapons and any related products such as ammunitions or accessory kits on Google Shopping. In order to comply with our new policies, please remove any weapon-related products from your data feed and then re-submit your feed in the Merchant Center. For more information on this policy please visit Weapons - Advertising Policies Help.

We're constantly reviewing our policies, and updating them when necessary, to ensure we're offering the best experience possible to our users. We've identified a set of policy principles to govern our policy efforts on Google Shopping in the U.S. These principles are:

1) Google Shopping should provide a positive experience to users. Showing users the right products at the right time can truly enhance a user's experience. When people trust us to deliver them to a destination that's relevant, original, and easy to navigate this creates a positive online experience to the benefit of both users and merchants.

2 ) Google Shopping should be safe for all users. User safety is everyone's business, and we can't do business with those who don't agree. Scams, phishing, viruses, and other malicious activities on the Internet damage the value of the Internet for everyone. Trying to get around policies or "game the system" is unfair to our users, and we can't allow that.

3) Google Shopping should comply with local laws and regulations. Many products and services are regulated by law, which can vary from country to country. All advertising, as well as the products and services being advertised, must clearly comply with all applicable laws and regulations. For the most part, our policies aren't designed to describe every law in every country. All advertisers bear their own responsibility for understanding the laws applicable to their business. Our policies are often more restrictive than the law, because we need to be sure we can offer services that are legal and safe for all users.

4) Google Shopping should be compatible with Google's brand decisions. Google Shopping must be compatible with company brand decisions. Our company has a strong culture and values, and we've chosen not to allow ads that promote products and services that are incompatible with these values. In addition, like all companies, Google sometimes makes decisions based on technical limitations, resource constraints, or requirements from our business partners. Our policies reflect these realities.

We've given much thought to our stance on this content, as well as the potential effect our policy decision could have on our Merchants, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you.

Sincerely,

The Google Shopping Team

© 2012 Google Inc. 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043 You have received this mandatory email service announcement to update you about important changes to your Google Merchant Center account.

Guess I won't be using Google Shopping any more...

[kapnketel]

And here's a shocker, guess who Google's executives contribute to and support for President? Should not suprise anyone.

[RKflorida]

It's true. Seems to be inconsistent across the USA. I'm in Florida and if I type "Colt 1911" into Google Shopping I get zero results, but if I do the same thing in Bing Shopping, I get pages of results. Some others don't experience the problem but most do.

[MrBuckwheat]

I have not seen yet thru google, but I look for the old parts. If true google can kiss my hairy butt. I stopped with Pay pal and ebay when they would not let us sell empty brass any more.

[Ram Rod]

You just might want to reconsider how and where you search on the internet these days. Where there's a sale ready to be made, not much stands in the way of the transaction. Internet has more loopholes than your local laws. Pretty much handed to you but at a cost. C'mon now....even EBay has started allowing sales of pistol mags. Done it myself a month ago. You gotta quit letting the system run you and learn how to run with the system IMO. Seriously.
If you don't, you're nothing but left behind. Where do you want to be?

[Yankeejib]

The invasiveness of the internet can be staggering. I was looking for an internet feed for watching The Tour De France since you can get it from a variety of international sources. Not more than a half hour later, I had email spams for various video sports feeds and services. Now mind you, I never entered any information while I was browsing, just clicking on websites. I'm also at an IP I rarely use since I'm not home right now. But I found it interesting that somehow, my hotmail email addy is tied to my browsing (even with my security on that ratcheted up) and "they" know what I'm looking at.

[eeeZnow]

Unflippingbelievable! Thank you guys for posting this! I just tried searching holsters this evening and kept getting nothing. Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore... Wow...

[Spirit51]

Google will start censoring searchs to leave out guns, ammo and shooting accessories.

Apparently Google is NOT our friend.


Prison Planet.com » Google Shopping Censors All Gun, Ammo & Accessories Results

[Sig35seven]

I believe it's shopping results, not general search results.

[JD]

Running here: http://www.defensivecarry.com/forum/...nces-guns.html

[ANGLICO]

Published: 10:57 AM 06/29/2012
Daily Caller

.....“All of the items in your feed must be in compliance with Google Shopping policies,” the company said on the site’s support center. “In particular, all items have to be family safe.”

The company listed “guns, ammunition and knives” as part of its products list “not allowed on Google Shopping.”

The rule seems to have started to take effect. As of June 28, queries for items such as “Colt 1911 Pistol,” “12 gauge ammo” and “Colt .45″ are met with a “did not match any shopping results” page.

.....snip.... On the other hand.....

A search on Bing.com for an item such as “1911 pistol for sale” turns up results that included various firearms, airsoft weapons and accessories.

“Google now has a worse policy than ebay,” wrote The Firearm Blog, which posted the email on its blog Thursday.

Read more: Google bans gun sales on US shopping center | The Daily Caller

Never use Google!

Reference Sprit51's Closed Thread on this: http://www.defensivecarry.com/forum/...-ammo-ect.html

[SFury]

Internet has more loopholes than your local laws.

A myth. Stop perpetuating it.

The only thing the "internet" can do for someone is to avoid paying sales tax in certain circumstances. All other laws apply.





The interesting thing about Google doing this is that the founders once were famous for saying they would never do any filtering of any type. Now they do more recording of information, with permanent record retention, and filtering than any other search engine in the US. Well, outside of those search engines designed to filter out certain items that is.

Honestly, Google is a company that should be boycotted at this time. They have become very un-American in the last 5-6 years.

[zeppelin03]

I like google. Nothings changing that for me.

[zacii]

Well this is 100% dumb.

I just tried to search 'Colt 1911' in Google shoppingand got no results.
But a regular Google search turned up some usable info.

I find it ironic that the people who scream against censorship are now censoring.




Sent from my Galaxy S2