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Google To Partner With SurfWatch

Posted by jamie on from the keeping-abreast-of-the-news dept.

thelonius writes "According to this press release, Google is traipsing down that questionable path of content filtering. They are partnering with SurfWatch, anyone know their track record for overzealous or politically skewed blocking? Let's hope Google deploys this as an option which can be turned off..." I expect they will. SurfWatch is one of the few censorware packages that blocks by keyword-match on URL; e.g. this anti-pornography page is blindly blocked because of its URL.

2 of 11 comments (clear)

  1. You all are forgetting something important here by Randy+Rathbun · · Score: 4
    Surfwatch's track record. It is abysmal.

    According to Peacefire.org, Surfwatch has blocked:

    Whitehouse.gov page about Bill, Hilary, Al and Tipper because it was named "couples.html"

    Tons of pages about STDs

    Tons of pages about gay rights

    Tripod's "Ask the Doctor" pages about health and sexuality

    Facts about sexual assault

    Surfwatch also claimed *they* were the reason the CDA was overturned.

    Google is a great place to look for Linux info. But let's now contemplate what kinds of stuff are going to be blocked based on Surfwatch's "everything about sex" stance.

    http://www.debian.org/Packages/stable/editors/se x.html - the Simple editor for Debian package description.

    http://www.debian.org/Packages/stable/base/libc6 .html - it is linked to from the above page

    http://www.debian.org/Packages/stable/x11/xlib6g .html - it too is linked to from the above page

    And those examples are from link number 4 when I did a search for "linux sex". There are 39,093 other possible pages.

    If Google is trying to keep the search engine spammers out, then give me a reporting address or a reporting web page where I can plop a url in so they can do what *should* be done in the first place - block the search engine spammers from ever being there again.

    And no, what I am saying has nothing to do with me wanting to censor. It has everything to do with wanting good results back that don't waste my time.

    Unfortunately, I don't think Google is going to win if they implement this totally idiotic idea. I for one will never use them again if they do.

  2. Blarney Google by Seth+Finkelstein · · Score: 3
    Enter the following keywords to Google : sex lies censorware

    First hit, a critical essay:

    Sex, Lies and Censorware

    ... Sex, Lies and Censorware By James S. Tyre..

    Also referenced on the third hit, and later.

    Turn on "SafeSearch".

    You can't find the essay anywhere in the returned results.

    Similar results with: lies censorware tyre

    Apparently it's safety from criticism too ...

    - the Boston Lunatic