This article was published on April 19, 2016

Google is currently listing Google.com as a partially dangerous domain


Google is currently listing Google.com as a partially dangerous domain
Ben Woods
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Ben Woods

Europe Editor

Ben is a technology journalist with a specialism in mobile devices and a geeky love of mobile spectrum issues. Ben used to be a professional Ben is a technology journalist with a specialism in mobile devices and a geeky love of mobile spectrum issues. Ben used to be a professional online poker player. You can contact him via Twitter or on Google+.

Err, that embarrassing moment when your own Transparency Report tools list your primary source of revenue as a ‘partially dangerous domain’ that could be serving up malware.

That’s right, Google’s warning anyone who cares to check that Google.com is currently at risk of serving you up something worse than targeted advertising. It then goes on to list the domains you might get served spam or malware from, just in case you wanted to research them yourself and open up that possibility voluntarily.

That's irony, right? Real irony, not like Alanis Morrisette's version?
That’s irony, right? Real irony, not like Alanis Morrisette’s version?

Presumably, this is down to the way in which Google’s ad network operates but we’ve asked the company for an official explanation.

Of course, it’s also more ammunition for adblocker advocates, who argue that stripping monetization from the Web is merely self-defense against malware.

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