After a complaint by the Catholic League, the internet search engine, Excite, has removed an insulting anti-Catholic element from its search facilities. We noticed in February that when someone typed in the name Mother Theresa (the correct spelling of her name in Teresa), up popped an obscenity. The same obscenity appeared when the words Mother Superior and Mother Driscoll were typed on the screen search aid.
In a letter to Excite CEO George Bell, William Donohue wrote that “I understand that Excite may not be able to regulate all the websites available but it certainly has control over the words used as suggestions for a search. It is this service of providing helpful suggestions which distinguishes Excite from other search engines. Presumably, Excite is trying to assist searches and not attempting to send them into completely unrelated areas.”
While we did not hear from Mr. Bell, the offense we complained about has been relieved now that the obscenity has been excised.
