Google responds to problems with searches for Dinesh D’Souza’s ‘America’

7/16/14
 
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from FoxNews,
7/14/14:

Conservative filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza wants to know why his latest docudrama “America: Imagine the World Without Her” was buried by mega search engine Google.

“I certainly hope this is not intentional. But how long does it take a technical company to fix a technical problem? “D’Souza told FOX411. “We’re trying to be patient, but this is making it harder for people to get accurate information about the film.”

Here’s the technical problem: When one normally searches the name of a current movie plus the word “movie” in Google, showtimes and more information for the film typically show up. “America” opened on July 1 in 700 theaters nationwide, but typing in “America movie” has not provided show time information in a Google search.

Lawyers for the film sent a letter to Google chief legal officer David Drummond insisting the situation be fixed, claiming that it is hindering the ability for moviegoers to find out where its being played.

A Google rep acknowledged the problem, stating that their systems “have unfortunately confused the title of the movie ‘America’, because it’s a common term and appears in many movie titles.”

“We’ve updated the Knowledge Graph, our database that stores this type of information, but it will take some time to display show times and other details for this movie. We’re always working on improving our systems, and we appreciate the feedback,” the rep explained, adding that the show times are already there; but that the system just hasn’t fully updated yet to display show times when you search for directly for “America 2014 movie.”

A Google search Wednesday morning still did not not show provide theaters and times, even though “America” is now in more than 1,000 theaters.

D’Souza’s letter also questioned whether the glitch was a human or automated error, and demanded that Google provide statistics on searches in an effort for filmmakers to determine how many users could not find session times as a result of the technical error.

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