Chronicle Journal - Stories -

Opinion Poll
With a transit strike looming in Thunder Bay, what‘s your take on possible job action:
	It would be disruptive
	I’ll get by with other means
	I don’t use transit
	I hope there’s no stoppage

More Links	tbayjobline	TbayWeddings	Play Games!	^New! eVents Calendar	Advertise with Us	Contact Us

Other Links	Movie Times	Airport	Bus Schedule	Road Conditions	Library	Weather	Facebook	Twitter

Google Search results in warning, ’This site may harm your computer’
By THE CANADIAN PRESS
Saturday, January 31, 2009

Email this article
Printer friendly page

Google says sorry for the goof.

If you did a Google Internet search between 9:30 a.m. ET and 10:25 a.m. ET on Saturday, you likely were unable to access any website in the search results list.

Google labelled all websites, even www.google.ca, as a malicious website with the warning "This site may harm your computer."

Clicking the warning took the user to a page which explained that "This warning message appears with search results we’ve identified as sites that may install malicious software on your computer."

Google later said the problem occurred because of "human error" and issued an apology.

Google flags search results with a warning message if a site is known to install malicious software in the background or otherwise surreptitiously.

During a routine update to a list of so-called badware sites, Google said a symbol was checked off by mistake that expanded the warning to all URL’S.

"This was clearly an error," said Google spokeswoman Marissa Mayer in a posting on the official Google blog. "We are very sorry for the inconvenience caused to our users, and to site owners whose pages were incorrectly labelled."

Google says it will carefully investigate the incident and promises more robust file checks will be put in place to prevent it from happening again.

Top of Page

Games!
Canadian Crossword
PlayFour!
Word Roundup