This article was published on September 29, 2009

Google Doodles: too sensitive to share with the world


Google Doodles: too sensitive to share with the world

Yesterday I wrote about Doodle Source and their goals of showing and archiving all Google Doodles. I linked to Google.com/logos where Google supposedly archives their own Doodles.

When I tried visiting that link I got a basic “404 – page not found” error page. I figured this section of Google was simply down for maintenance.

Google Logos

Then Pablo from Doodle Source left a comment explaining me that the Google Doodle page wasn’t down, it just isn’t accessible to anyone outside of the USA.

The <3 of EU tech

The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!

I couldn’t believe it at first but I checked with a Proxy service and Pablo is right.

Apparently those Doodles are too sensitive for the rest of the world to check out. So Google hides them. Instead of just showing them or redirecting to a local Google site they show a basic 404 page. Why? What is the point?

I must admit that it isn’t such a big deal (it is ‘just’ a doodle) but I couldn’t help thinking about it. Google spends a lot of time and energy on reaching the world. Why hide this particular part? And why hide it so well?

UPDATED: this conspiracy goes deeper than I thought. I tested it for 24 hours, on several machines and using several proxies and always had the same results. Then I published and suddenly the page seems accessible from (almost) everywhere. Either I jumped the gun or Google bugged our offices. I’m not paranoid, it is just that everyone’s out to get me!

Get the TNW newsletter

Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.

Also tagged with


Published
Back to top