Google not a fan of Bitch magazine

While Google might be ranked up there as one of the top companies to work for in the world, partly for its progressive stance on employment, it isn't quite so forward thinking when it comes to language – denying certain groups Google accounts when they try and use a domain that the search giant doesn't like the sound of.

This is what happened recently to Bitch magazine, when it attempted to move from its Thunderbird desktop email system to Gmail. However signing up using its domain of bitchmagazine.org was impossible, as Google returned the message that “Google Apps does not currently support this domain name.”

“Our technology director went to register our domain name and found out basically that we wouldn't be able to have email addresses with that domain name,” said Kate Lesniak, Bitch Media's development director (via Wired).

Hoping to get Google to change its policy for excluding domains that contain certain words, Bitch Media has begun a petition you can sign by heading here. It explains that it seems silly for Google not to take into consideration the context of the words being used as part of the domain. “When it’s being used as an insult, “bitch” is an epithet hurled at women who speak their minds,” said Rebecca West. “[They] have opinions and don’t shy away from expressing them, and don’t sit by and smile uncomfortably if they’re bothered or offended. If being an outspoken woman means being a bitch, we’ll take that as a compliment.”

KitGuru Says: Have any of you had a domain name refused by Google?

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