Prohibition does not work - in any field of life. It adds glamour and even more possibilities for corruption and dodgy profit than anything else.
Google does not want to be know as censoring stuff just because "it doesn't like it"
There is nothing wrong here. No race hate, porn, push to violence. It's just stuff Google doesn't particularly approve of.
If news got out that G were "censoring the web" what do you think many people would do?
If the general media has headlines like "Google censors xxxx" The outcry would be massive - people would leave in droves.
It only takes one massive screw up and G fail. Don't think it couldn't happpen. It would take 30 seconds for people to say "sod it - I'm using Yahoo" and if enough do that it's bye bye "Big G". It's the sort of thing that could happen overnight, and has prescident.
Look what happened to "News International"
"Google sell personal data for profit" or "Google security risk means accessing your bank through their browser/search engine could compromise your passwords" Or even "Google boss in tax evasion scam"
Anything..
And you know what. One day something like this is almost BOUND TO HAPPEN. If the rest of the media picks it up and makes a run with it (like they sometimes do) that could be the end of them overnight.
Censoring the web for no good reason is one bananaskin they know they have to avoid - it could be one step down the slippery slope to failure for them, and they know it.
A majority of people hate censorship like this, and changing the default search engine in your browser takes 20 seconds.
That means Google are always 20 seconds from failure if they make a wrong move like this if enough people make that decision.
Remember - GOOGLE ARE NOT THE INTERNET. It's just a website. It lives and dies on traffic like every other site. People use Google OUT OF CHOICE and there are many alternatives that are just as good if not better
They know this, and won't do something as stupid as start censorship for no real reason - it would be the beginning of the end for them
Scritty