On Google many brick n mortar open business find they are listed “this place is permanently closed.”

[RamboLiberal]

In mid-August, Jason Rule learned some surprising news about the coffee shop that he owns and operates in Hays, Kan.: the place had closed for good.

Not in the real world, where it is thriving. Coffee Rules Lounge was listed for a few days as “permanently closed” on Google Maps. During that time, anyone searching for a latte on a smartphone, for instance, would have assumed the store was a goner.

“We’re not far from Interstate 70,” said Mr. Rule, “and I have no doubt that a lot of people running up and down that highway just skipped us.”

In recent months, plenty of perfectly healthy businesses across the country have expired — sometimes for hours, other times for weeks — though only in the online realm cataloged and curated by Google. The reason is that it is surprisingly easy to report a business as closed in Google Places, the search giant’s version of the local Yellow Pages.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/06/technology/closed-in-error-on-google-places-merchants-seek-fixes.html?hp

[tridim]

1. And that is why single-sourced information is so dangerous.

Faux News counts on it.

[SoCalDem]

2. Sorry Jason, anyone cruising down I-70 will not get off it

to meander to Hays for a cup of coffee:)
unless they are GOING to Hays:)