Collateral damage

[Landau, James]

A non-military usage of "collateral damage":

http://www.forbes.com/technology/2007/04/29/sanar-google-skyfacet-tech-c
x_ag_0430googhell_2.html

The article discusses a "Google Hell" to which Google consigns Web pages
that its computer algorithms decide are "spam pages".

<quote>
. "There has been a lot of collateral damage with some of these
decisions," [search marketer Michael] Gray says. He cites the growing
sophistication of spam pages as one source of trouble. "Google's trying
not to throw the baby out with the bathwater, but it's kind of
impossible. A spammer can very easily create something that resembles a
legitimate site if he knows the right tricks," he says.
</quote>

Also note a new meaning of "spam" which does not refer to e-mail.  It
appears to refer to an advertising site which is designed so that it
will get an undeservedly high placement on Google (or so the spammer who
created it hopes).

    - Jim Landau (who found this site while searching for information on
airliners)

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