The
Internet has a secret society. Anyone can join. It supports hidden messages. Those who want to belong need only download and install a special toolbar from Google that works in either Firefox or
Microsoft Explorer (IE).
The toolbar, called Sidewiki, which launched in September, provides a venue for
venting and posting derogatory comments on virtually any Web site that only those who install the toolbar can read. And although many realize that Google never intended that the toolbar be used for
evil, some believe the Mountain View, Calif. company's innovation could create a nightmare for marketers and Web site owners if they choose not to download and install the tool.
iCyte CEO Stephen
Foley says it's like painting on someone's front door. The homeowner cannot do anything to prevent the damage, but uses their marketing dollars and time to clean up the mess. "Some might ask, well,
can't we just have transparency?" he says. "In this case, transparency has a deeper meaning. It means you have to declare your position. There are so many ways people can misuse this tool."
There
are plenty of examples posted on Web sites across the Internet. Take the post on goisrael.com that Foley took a snapshot in iCyte and saved. It reads "Yes, you too can join a country that has the
highest abduction rate of female sex slaves in the world. Mossad doesn't care so why should you! Regular Jews lived in peace with their Muslim friends until the Ashkenazi Zionist arrived."
Or the
entry about Sarah Palin that reads: "Here is a moose shooting woman who knows nothing about the world stage and her own videos prove it! We do not need any SNL script to dig Palin a new grave as she
makes her own grave deeper and deeper and the only people who follow her are soap opera basement girls and gay men and people who are members of some weird cults."
Google stands by the claim that
employees have worked hard from the start to make sure users only see high-quality relevant entries in Google Sidewiki, according to a Google spokesperson. "Rather than ordering entries
chronologically, we use a unique algorithm that incorporates various signals about the entries to rank them in terms of usefulness," the spokesperson says. "The signals include language modeling for
the text, and information we know about the author, such as the quality of past Sidewiki entries he or she has written."
The community using the tool monitors Sidewiki entries by voting up
content that is useful and informative, and voting down irrelevant or unhelpful posts. Similarly, the community can flag any illegal, pornographic or copyrighted content by using the "Report Abuse"
button.
Google also gives site owners who have claimed their site in Google Webmaster Tools the ability to post a special entry that appears above all other entries in the Sidewiki sidebar. It's
intended to introduce people to their page or to respond to posted entries.
Foley doesn't believe that's enough. He wrote a post in Google Sidewiki on Microsoft's Web site titled "Has Google
Started a War?" that discusses the ramifications of competitors taking swipes at each other's Web sites, fundamentalists damning each other, and jilted lovers making their notes on the senior partners
profile. "Oh, and do you think voting this down will help?" he writes. "We will just all head to the last Sidewiki to see where the dirt is. I am sorry Google but you are on a course of self destruct
on this one."
Today, Foley's post ranks No. 24 with the highest positive score, but yesterday it ranked No. 1.
Foley's post on Microsoft was just the beginning. Now he wants Google to change
its policy and provide opt-in/opt-out features. It would allow owners to block anyone from posting comments on their Web site. So, he's building a Web site set to launch at the end of the month. It
will contain a petition asking the search engine to reorganize Sidewiki and make it an opt-in process.