Germany's Former First Lady Sues Google for 'Prostitute' Algorithm: Whose Side Are You On?

by AdriHead Posted 2012/09/12 22:21:28

Related Topics: Germany, Google, Bettina Wulff, First Lady, Google Search

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	Team Bettina Wulff!	210 votes	36%
	Team Google!	369 votes	64%

Bettina Wulff, Germany's former first lady, is not a prostitute -- and she want you to know it. The wife of former German President Christian Wulff is suing Google over its autocomplete function while searching, which shows the words "prostitute" and "escort" after Wulff's name is typed out.

The former German first lady says she's never been a prostitute but that rumors circulated about her allegedly racy past around 2006, most likely to harm her husband's political career. Wulff may not be a prostitute, but do you think the lawsuit is fair? Or is Google being sued for all the wrong reasons?

NYDAILYNEWS.COM reports:
Germany’s former first lady is not happy with her Google results. Bettina Wulff, 38, is suing the search giant over their autocomplete function, which she argues perpetuates rumors that she was once a prostitute.

38 suing search giant autocomplete function argues perpetuates rumors prostitute

+11

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Mog of War 2012/09/12 22:29:44

Team Google!

+12
Google's autocomplete feature is base on popular searches. Deal with it. Google could probably filter this from their autocomplete, and likely will, so this lawsuit is pointless.
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More polls by AdriHead

BuggaBoo to AnonRanGER 2012/09/16 02:52:10

i referred to photoshop. not google.

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AnonRanGER to BuggaBoo 2012/09/16 15:35:01

What, so you think Wulff should sue Adobe for making Photoshop?

"BW has a right to sue them for lying about her and grabbing sources from everywhere "

Who's "THEM"?

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BuggaBoo to AnonRanGER 2012/09/16 23:22:08

would u stop being so damn blind. if someone made a photoshop of u and it became a rumor aka the truth, what would u do? just sit there and let it happen??
would u rather her commit suicide??? millions resort to that than to deal with a blindo like u

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AnonRanGER to BuggaBoo 2012/09/17 01:54:21

I take it you'd rather SUE A PARTY THAT HAS JACK SH*T TO DO WITH IT?
What?
You also didn't answer my question.
"BW has a right to sue them for lying about her and grabbing sources from everywhere "
Who's "THEM"?

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BuggaBoo to AnonRanGER 2012/09/17 03:32:07

google duh, who's this question about?
and what party am i suing that has nothing to do with this?
jeez, THINK for once

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AnonRanGER to BuggaBoo 2012/09/17 03:48:35

Please explain to me how Google lied about Wulff.

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BuggaBoo to AnonRanGER 2012/09/17 17:30:22

UGH... u have the whole thing mixed up...
1.) Google is grabbing pix from EVERYWHERE and adds links to them
2.) People add her face to pix on Photoshop. She never commited the acts in those photos.
3.) I dunno who she's mad at exactly.

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AnonRanGER to BuggaBoo 2012/09/17 18:46:03 (edited)

1) That's what it's FOR.
2) This has nothing to do with Google.
3) Neither does she.

I'm not talking about the actual allegations of prostitution being true or false (they're most likely false), I'm talking about Google not being responsible for those.

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BuggaBoo to AnonRanGER 2012/09/18 01:19:02

Photoshop is a source for Google. Pix made up by ppl are then sited.

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AnonRanGER to BuggaBoo 2012/09/18 03:41:42

"Photoshop is a source for Google."

No, it's not. Seriously, know what you're talking about before you make an idiot out of yourself.

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BuggaBoo to AnonRanGER 2012/09/18 03:59:55
AnonRanGER to BuggaBoo 2012/09/18 04:16:10

Okay.
Please link me to any reliable source confirming your claim that
"Photoshop is a source for Google".
Good luck. I'm not even sure what you mean by that since Photoshop is a graphics editing program. Google has no access to it whatsoever.

Here's how it is:
Someone altered pictures using Photoshop and put those on the internet.
Google is a search machine. When you are looking for pictures of Wulff, you will, amongst other things, find the aforementioned pictures if they are labeled with her name, or appear on a website in relation to an article with her name in it.

Adobe is not to blame for this.
Google is not to blame for this.
The person who used Photoshop to alter those pictures is to blame for this.

So explain to me again why Wulff is justified in suing Google.

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BuggaBoo to AnonRanGER 2012/09/18 12:15:40
AnonRanGER to BuggaBoo 2012/09/18 13:04:41 (edited)

How am I blind to someone's loss of self-esteem and public respect when I'm not even talking about the slander itself, but the fact that Google or Adobe are not responsible for this in the slightest, and your lack of understanding how Google and Photoshop work.
I noticed you couldn't support your claim that "Photoshop is a source for Google",

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BuggaBoo to AnonRanGER 2012/09/16 23:23:09

I understand the situation, ur denying it

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lee 2012/09/15 00:45:19

Team Google!

google santorum

yikes

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Soundstorm to lee 2012/09/15 02:19:07

+1
Obviously. That's all liberal Google users can think about.

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lee to Soundstorm 2012/09/15 17:28:02

or prostitutes... its hard to keep them strait.

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Soundstorm to lee 2012/10/03 08:34:05

Especially when they're invited to speak before Congress by devious Democrat coalitions.

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lee to Soundstorm 2012/10/04 17:59:45

+1
yeah, very devious to bring in a student on women's issues to talk about women's issues....

very clever indeed.

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Soundstorm to lee 2012/10/06 07:53:32

It came off more like the issues of a woman with the contraceptive needs one would have if she had suitors lined up around the block to her door. What was that word again for such a person?

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lee to Soundstorm 2012/10/07 17:34:13

+1
thats because you listen too much to your right wing spin doctors.... how about you go and atcually look up the transcript of her testimony and use that to form an opinion..

you are entitled to your OWN you know, you don't have to borrow it from O'Reily or Hannity or Rush....

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Soundstorm to lee 2012/10/09 08:51:21

It's because I refuse to conform with the lowered bar of personal standards the liberal establishment expects the rest of society to accept. It began with their vindication of Bill Clinton's degeneracy in the White House. A growing number of Americans have had enough of the Democrats fouling our nest.

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lee to Soundstorm 2012/10/09 18:49:27

+1
so, no looking at the actual transcripts for you then...

... can't say that i'm surprised.

enjoy your regurgitated mind food.

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Soundstorm to lee 2012/10/10 08:28:50

You mean the transcripts of Bill Maher calling Laura Ingram a "talk radio slut"?

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AnonRanGER to Soundstorm 2012/10/10 14:08:36

+1
No, he's talking about the transcript of what she actually said in congress.
Your reply is retarded and pointless because Maher is not the topic. Nice distraction attempt.
For a 4 year old.

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Soundstorm to AnonRanGER 2012/10/13 22:17:07

What she said in Congress was a misleading hard case scenario unrelated to her own personal request for subsidized contraceptives provided by a Catholic institution. That was the distraction attempt you might have missed unless you're an adult.

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Ken 2012/09/15 00:28:08

Team Bettina Wulff!

+1
Wuff

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A Lionheart 2012/09/15 00:11:06

Team Bettina Wulff!

+1
Google is Big Brother.

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Soundstorm to A Lionh... 2012/09/15 04:25:39

Big dumb addle brained brother perhaps. But he ain't heavy.....

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Feria~THEZombieSlayingB!tch... 2012/09/14 22:36:53

Team Google!

Google didn't intentionally do anything, that's just what people have searched about. They also don't have to change it at all.

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Aksana 2012/09/14 22:19:02

Team Bettina Wulff!

none actually

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Stiffy 2012/09/14 20:49:43

Team Bettina Wulff!

... I actually don't know what to think.
It is Google's job to have all the facts.
But it is understandable that this is insulting her.
But suing google for rounding up unreliable articles from rumour-spouting magazines and everything really is... stupid i think. She should write her name in Google, select Bettina Wulff prostituierte and SEE who in truth is saying this about her, and then SUE THEM, not poor old google...
SORRY I'M TEAM GOOGLE!

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Adam to Stiffy 2012/09/15 01:20:09

+1
It's not Googles job to get all the facts. That would be physically impossible. Its there job (The search engine aspect at least) to let people type in words and find pages that are relevant to those words based on mathematical algorithms, and to provide the convenience of an auto-correct that shows popular search terms based on mathematical algorithms. To complain about the autocorrect is exactly like complaining that 2+2=4. Google is just plugging in a math problem based on what other people are searching the internet for.

This is worse then shooting the messenger, it's more like shooting the guy who hired the messenger.

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firozal... to Adam 2012/09/15 15:50:08

I agree it is not Google it is the lady who seeks the fast promotion and few coins I thank you What a way to earn Firozali A.Mulla DBA

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Stiffy to Adam 2012/09/16 16:13:36

yeah you're right.

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NotTargetMaterial 2012/09/14 20:48:20 (edited)

Team Google!

You know, I'd have more respect for this woman if she WAS indeed a prostitute.

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Soundstorm to NotTarg... 2012/09/15 04:28:51

Do you think maybe your misogyny may have something to do with your problems of getting employed by Target?

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NotTarg... to Soundstorm 2012/09/15 05:08:29

+2
Oh boy. I was questioning whether someone would not understand my comment, and I guess I was right.

What I mean is that I have no respect for this individual after her reading what I read above. I absolutely despise people with the attitude like "How dare you use my name like that blah blah blah"

So the irony is that this person is hell bent on protecting her "good name" (or in my opinion, just generating attention and being a dick), yet I would have had more respect for this individual if it came out that she was indeed a prostitute. I have more respect for a prostitute than someone on an ego trip. Thats the complete opposite of misogyny, wouldn't you say?

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Soundstorm to NotTarg... 2012/09/15 05:19:00

Yeah, but labeling her an idiot is blatantly offensive and uncalled for. You're rashly assuming things about her attitude. She seems to be someone who doesn't understand the bizarre random way Google's algorithms work. And having one's name publicly associated with words like "prostitute" and "escort" can be pretty distressing to anybody.

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