Shownotes:
This morning started like a typical morning for me … with a google search. I searched for Bruce Williams, a broadcaster who does a business advice show and got the results I’d respect along with warnings on every search result. The warning says, “This Site May Harm Your Computer.” I went to a different Mac and did a search. Same thing. I used different search words and phrases. Same thing. I did a search from different browsers and from a PC and got the same warning message.
Next step twitter. I asked if anyone else is getting the error and it appears to be happening to everyone on every search.
At that point, all we had was questions:
Did Google get hacked?
Is it an internal error?
Can anyone remember an issue this crippling happening to Google before?
TechCrunch speculated here. Iwent live on ustream as we tried to figure out what is happening.
UDPATE: Google explained that it was human error:
What happened? Very simply, human error. Google flags search results with the message “This site may harm your computer” if the site is known to install malicious software in the background or otherwise surreptitiously. We do this to protect our users against visiting sites that could harm their computers. We work with a non-profit called StopBadware.org to get our list of URLs. StopBadware carefully researches each consumer complaint to decide fairly whether that URL belongs on the list. Since each case needs to be individually researched, this list is maintained by humans, not algorithms.
We periodically receive updates to that list and received one such update to release on the site this morning. Unfortunately (and here’s the human error), the URL of ‘/’ was mistakenly checked in as a value to the file and ‘/’ expands to all URLs. Fortunately, our on-call site reliability team found the problem quickly and reverted the file. Since we push these updates in a staggered and rolling fashion, the errors began appearing between 6:27 a.m. and 6:40 a.m. and began disappearing between 7:10 and 7:25 a.m., so the duration of the problem for any particular user was approximately 40 minutes.
UPDATE 2: Here’s the Ustream video you missed:
Direct Download Links
Small | Medium | Extra Large | Windows Media | Nokia N95 (Upload in progress) | Nokia N800/N810 (Upload in progress)
« Breaking: What’s the Matter with Google?
January 31st, 2009 at 12:35 pm
Wow that was a power of ‘/’ (include everything under ‘/’ ..)
January 31st, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Can you say “Insane over-reaction?” I knew that you could!!
January 31st, 2009 at 2:24 pm
Google was the source of human error and not StopBadware.org. They’ve updated their explanation warning to reflect that.
“We maintain a list of such sites through both manual and automated methods. We work with a non-profit called StopBadware.org to come up with criteria for maintaining this list, and to provide simple processes for webmasters to remove their site from the list.
We periodically update that list and released one such update to the site this morning.”
Here’s a blog from StopBadware.org explaining the facts from their side:
http://blog.stopbadware.org/2009/01/31/google-glitch-causes-confusion
January 31st, 2009 at 5:23 pm
Google was erroneous in their intial statement (which they have since changed). They (Google) caused the problem, not StopBadware.
http://blog.stopbadware.org/2009/01/31/google-glitch-causes-confusion
January 31st, 2009 at 8:10 pm
GeekBrief.TV | Video Podcast » Blog Archive » GBTV #505 | The Google Glitch: Shownotes:
This morn.. http://tinyurl.com/ap92mw
January 31st, 2009 at 8:19 pm
Geekbrief: GBTV #505 | The Google Glitch: Shownotes:
This morning started like a typical morning for m.. http://tinyurl.com/ap92mw
January 31st, 2009 at 9:04 pm
Brief 505 is up (and this morning’s Ustream if you missed it) – http://tinyurl.com/ap92mw (via @CaliLewis)
Always a good watch.
January 31st, 2009 at 10:32 pm
GeekBrief.tv explains the “Google Issue” from this morning when goolge, uh, MESSED UP BIG. Info here: http://is.gd/hWrZ
February 1st, 2009 at 6:44 pm
So, the problem with using Gmail, Google Apps, AppEngine, or Google’s hosted ajax libraries finally comes to light. Google is the search engine of choice for most of the internet (I think their market share was around 80%, when I last checked), and there’s not a lot we can do about that. I like Google, use Gmail, and are grateful for all that they’ve done for indexing and internet based communications – but when the search giant missteps like they did here, the internet seems to be ripped apart, unless you go directly to a website’s url… and, if you are using any of the services I listed, you might want to consider having a backup. If Google search gets is brought to it’s knees by an incorrect keystroke, it’s just as likely that one or more of their other services can be incapacitated in the same manner.
So, what have I learned from all of this? Wake up – it’s always a good thing to have a plan B.
February 1st, 2009 at 7:54 pm
Uh, here’s a link to Geekbrief’s take on Google glitch: http://is.gd/hWrZ