I'm in an internet cafe in Tours, France and when I type in google.com, google.fr pops up WITH a link to google.com. Go figure.

I was neither suggesting that Google not comply with the law, nor that getting around geolocation of IPs was difficult. I'm just curious to know if google is "search page" filtering or is it also "source IP filtering"?

The reasons are more policy than tactics. Search page filtering is transparent to the user (in the sense that the filtering is based on information you know, and may be able to control). Source IP filtering is not transparent - it is a notable effort to control your source IP address, and even if you do, you don't know what that piece of information implies in Google's search process.

Google could resolve these questions entirely by marking search pages with a small message:

  Regional profile in use: FR DE

...so that no matter how they decided to apply a regional search profile, you would know.

Cyperphunks is right.

Why expect Google to break the law in those countries ? Would you expect Google to do the same in Canada or the US ?

Laws are for everyone, even the clever. There's a place for concientuous objection, but ultimately if you choose to continually write your own rules you will be and should be prosecuted.

Chris, there are various proxy methods of getting around
IP geolocation. It is more difficult, but doable. And the
Google API offers the possibility of a Google specific
proxy.

> But when the information that people want isn't
> there, people will turn to the english version
> (google.com) which has *everything*...

Have you been to France to check if this is true?

Google does "IP geolocating", as mentioned earlier on
bOINGbOING. You probably don't have type google.fr, it
will just automatically popup when you type google.com
into the location field. That's what happens with
google.ca - it replaces google.com when you go there.

So - does google filter these results according to
what you see on the location bar, or does it filter
it according to what it thinks of your IP address?

This is something you can't check except from inside
.fr or .de - any BB'ers out there in this position?

The funny bit (to me at least) is that all this is going to do is help English become the world's most popular language. I mean, why do google.de and google.fr exist? ...majorly so that they can serve german and french populations *in their native language*. But when the information that people want isn't there, people will turn to the english version (google.com) which has *everything*...

  --PJ

It's easy to blame Google. They're a big, fat target, and corporate to boot, which makes them evil in a lot of the minds around here.

It's a little tougher to blame 150 million people. But if you've got the courage of your convictions, you need to follow them through to their logical conclusion. Those are the people who authorized their representatives to pass the laws that ban this information. They are the only ones with the power to reverse these laws. They are the ones you should be having a dialogue with.

But hey, I understand, it's easier to criticize Google. There are only so many hours in the day.

There seems to be no suggestion that Google made any effort to resist, so they do have some responsibility. What if they said, "OK, then no Google here"? A lot to ask, true, but that's what responsibility is all about.

Ah well, another hero with feet of clay.

It is the people of France and Germany, through their elected representatives, who have forced Google to do this. Any criticism should be directed towards the populace of those countries.

Ironically, this piece was featured prominently on Google News.

Perhaps not so ironically?

Liberté, Egalité, Deleté.