Methods of Search Engine Censorship

Exclusion of Search Engine Robots

Because most indexed websites are added to the database automatically by the search engine robot, the simplest method of preventing a page’s inclusion in the database is to prevent the robot from copy the page to the index.  This is controlled by the webpage designer, without input from the search engine companies and is only effective against web robots that recognize either, the robots meta tag, the robots.txt file, or both.  This does not remove the web pages from the internet or prevent access to those pages; it merely prevents the page from being indexed into the search engine and thus prevents its display as a search result. [Click to explore Robot Exclusion]

Manipulation of the Search Engine Index

Because search engines examine their own indexes to retrieve results for search queries, any manipulation of those indexes affects the displayed results.  Moreover, even the most world’s powerful search engine, Google, willingly removes access to specific websites and web pages for various moral, political, and economic reasons.  Rarely is a search result’s removal explained to the search engine user at the time of the search.  As a result, for the individuals that rely upon the search engine resources, the web site simply disappears. [Click to explore Search Engine Index Manipulation]

Internet Filtering

Internet filtering is the term that refers to the methods use to limit access to certain available internet information.  The programs used to conduct such filtering of internet information typically fall into one or a combination of three categories: inclusion filtering, exclusion filtering, and content analysis.  Inclusion filtering screens websites based on their domain names or IP addresses and compares them against an approved list of acceptable sites.   The end-user cannot access information from a site not included on these so-called “white lists.”  In contrast, exclusion filtering uses a “black list” of unacceptable sites and allows access to all but those specific sites.  The most flexible method, content analysis, restricts access by analyzing the content of the website and blocking those which contain words, pictures, or other specified items strongly associated with inappropriate content. [Click to explore Internet Filtering]