Comment by pryce
5 years ago
It's interesting how closely the unfolding of this awful scenario has followed an entirely predictable path based on the shifting incentives: now hundreds of thousands of businesses face the same massive hazard of blocklisted without adequate human review, and with mediocre options to respond to it if it occurs.
Without a shift in incentives, its unlikely the outlook will improve. Unless the organisations affected (and those vulnerable) can organise and exert enough pressure for google to notice and adjust course, we're probably going to be stuck like this -or worse- for a long time.
Blacklisting a site incorrectly seems like a perfectly adequate reason for a defamation lawsuit. So, I think the real issue is with the legal system.
> this awful scenario has followed an entirely predictable path
The interesting things about predictable paths is that at the start there are a LOT of them, then over time there becomes just one of them. I don't see that this path was any more predictable at the start than any other.