Peek a Boo Google app stealing my url rank -Can I block?

  • Unknown's avatar
    electricia1 · Member ·

    Here’s another example of Google aka Big Brother intruding and trying to take over ourlives. Today I discovered this Google app “https://peek-a-boo.appspotDOTCOM because a Google web search of my name and my blog’s name turned up “https://peek-a-boo.appspot/MY_BLOG_NAME” In the search under my name. In fact the peek a boo app view of my site came ahead of my own url!

    What can I do? Can I block it? Any other ideas?

    Peek a boo is apparently a web proxy that allows users to surf anonymously
    The Google page for this app @ http://bit.ly/9psQxg says: “An extremely fast secure anonymous free web proxy. Some sites are faster with the proxy than without.”
    It came out in August and is tagged proxy privacy censorship faster free anonymous

    I don’t mind if people want to surf anonymously and from what I’ve just read there are many apps that allow one to do so. My beef is that since “https://peek-a-boo.appspot/MY_BLOG_NAME” appears in Google search and has a higher rank than my own url, people will continue to click on it and not only that. Some visitors will think it is my site. Actually when one views my site through peek a boo, none of the You Tube vids are working! It says error occurred. No wonder peek a boo claims to be faster! The casual visitor will undoubtedly think there’s something wrong with my site.

    The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

  • Unknown's avatar
    electricia1 · Member ·

    Isn’t the appearance of Peek-A-Boo’s version of my site on Google search against my TOS, which says… “Unauthorized use and/or duplication of material including photos and republication of RSS feed without express and written permission from this blog’s owner is strictly prohibited.”

    Also want to clarify that the higher search rank that I mention was when people Googled my name, not my blog’s name. (not yet anyway)

  • Unknown's avatar
    designsimply · Member ·

    This is a legal question, and we really cannot give legal advice in this forum.

    Aside from that, have you checked with the service to see if you can opt out of it?

  • Unknown's avatar
    electricia1 · Member ·

    I will definitely query Google and see what they have to say because the peek-a-boo has replaced where my own url used to be on the page.

    So there isn’t any way for me to block the peek a boo app from this end?

  • Unknown's avatar
    electricia1 · Member ·

    for everyone’s info, since this is a new application and I have seen come across other queries on the web….

    The result that I was complaining about has either disappeared or dropped down a bit in the rankings. It seems the app isn’t very robust because for the past few hours, one gets a 503: This Google App Engine application is temporarily over its serving quota. Please try again later.

    Also, I contacted an attorney who specializes in copyright and related issues for advice. She said it is not legal issue because the application is a way of connecting to my website (and any other website), it’s not a reproduction of content at my website. She said if one connects to a site through the web proxy, one is being served up a copy of the website, but is just getting at it through a different portal. I understand the distinction because the stats of people who visited via the app show up as “Google” on statcounter. Re the url’s appearance in search, I was advised to complain to Google.

  • tellyworth · Staff ·

    Re the url’s appearance in search, I was advised to complain to Google.

    That’s good advice – WordPress.com staff have no influence whatsoever over Google search results.

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