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Foil-The-Filters Contest
eon(36.0) / Kathryn Aegis writes: "The Digital Freedom Network today announces the winners of its Foil the Filters Contest. To illustrate the unreliability and political slant of censorware, the DFN asked Netizens to ply the filters with innocuous words, names, or search requests to see what gets blocked. This week is Banned Books Week, so read something naughty today."
I was shocked when I we we read the Diary of Ann Frank in 8th grade. Not because of the things in the book, as I had already read it at home a year before, but what was missing:
The book has a rather erotic bit in it.. (don't have the book handy, it's been several years so I can't find the reference)
Of course, being a sexually intrested 8th grader, I flipped right to that section. But it wasn't there. I compaired with my book at home, the publisher removed most of a chapter.
I assume this was an attempt at censorship while still following the state's required reading laws.
Did anyone else notice things like this?
Everyone gets "fed" biased information. It's called subjective experience.
Poor kids these days (well, even a lot of kids in my day) -- they don't get any idleness. Their misconcerned parents structure their entire day, don't let them play idlely, and always want to know what they are doing. They don't get to make the mistakes that a kid should be allowed to make -- starting fires, digging through garbage cans, making crude weapons, getting in fights, etc. These are how kids learn, figure out who they are, ease their way into independance.
Keeping kids from doing what they shouldn't doesn't usually work. Thankfully, because that would be to destroy childhood. Kids need some shielding, but they shouldn't be protected from themselves. If you really want to protect your kid, it's a much more difficult and subtle process than looking over their shoulder all the time -- you have to teach them to protect themselves.
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With all the porn segregated into a small, easily detected part of the net, the wide-spread censoring of these areas is innevitable. ISPs, libraries, places of employment will all ban anything with the .sex TLD.
Now, I think a .xxx or .sex TLD would be a good idea -- fair advertising and all. But I don't think anyone should be forced to register under that name. That would just be asking for censorship. Sex is really important to our culture and to human interaction as a whole. To group all sexual works, even all explicit sexual works, in a category that will be marked "porn" is to cause serious harm to those works.
A little nudity never hurt anyone.
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And how do you propose this would actually work? Unless you think that all G-rated movies are okay for kids and all PG-rated movies need parental guidance. Somewhere along the line, somebody's going to need to make the decision of what's okay and what's not, and I'd rather that decision be made by the parents as opposed to some beaurocrat at ICANN who has as much judgement as the RIAA does with their ratings.
Plus, 'porn and such sites' is a judgement call for everyone. There are a few pictures on sites like http://www.allaboutsex.org which could be considered pornography in a different context, but a negligible minority would actually consider the site pornographic.
If you don't trust your kids, supervise them. This is like deciding between an armed guard (you standing over their shoulder) and a security camera (logging everything). I'd prefer an armed guard any day.
No, I just find the armed guard to be a much friendlier gesture.
When I have kids, this is what I'll do: I'll proxy all traffic from the house and log it. I'll tell my kids that I'm doing this, and that they can go to any site they want, but I'll know about it. Then I'll tell them that if they want the logging stopped they'll have to crack the proxy box... :-)
If you like this sort of thing then go to google and do a search on Dikshit. That is of course, if you don't have filtering software.
This has had me laughing all day:
"Peacefire's Bennett Haselton takes the prize for his fun with Cybersitter. Bennett started with this phrase: 'Gary Bauer is a staunch anti-homosexual conservative who sees the gay movement as absolutely pure fascism and thinks movies of men with men are the greatest terror.'
"After Cybersitter's keen filters attacked it, here's what came out: 'Gary Bauer is a staunch anti-conservative who sees the gay movement as absolutely pure and thinks movies of men with men are the greatest.'
-Waldo
If you have kids, and you are really interested in what the are reading, searching or looking in the internet, just install a fucking proxy and the take some time to: 1) Review the logs and where your kid has gone. 2) Talk about it whit him/her. If you can't do this, your problem is not the adult content at some internet sites...your real problem is just that Parenting is not for you. I'm sure there's some software that does this stuff for windows. When my father found a Playboy magazine un my room (I was 12 years old) we had a really constructive chat at that time. It helped me to learn how to be a better parent...Talking is much better that censoring, but you have to be prepared.
You're not asking for censorship. You're asking for a different reality. This isn't a matter of hiding a web page from you as a child, it's a matter of having had a fucked-up childhood in general.
W
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This is my SIG. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
Once all the obvious fuckups are gone, all that will be left are the subtle ones, the ones that aren't so in-your-face humiliating for the censors.
At that point they'll say "it works" and the less high-profile but just as improperly-filtered sites will be lost behind the filters.
The point is that ANY attempt to censor like this is ultimately immoral and futile. Well, hopefully futile anyway.
Here's my question: With people claiming to be doing this for the children, who here wishes they had been censored MORE as a child?
Not me.
W
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This is my SIG. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
before we all waste a lot of time, why not make a site that has a list of 'checkoff' sites that are commonly blocked by censoreware?
:)
that would serve two purposes:
1) allow us to script censorware tests
2) allow the manufacturors of censorware some insight into what things the 'community' feels are improper to censor.
email me if you're interested. i think we can have it up and running by the weekend.
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blue
i browse at -1 because they're funnier than you are.
For anyone looking to waste some time and have some great fun with evangelical types, head over here:
r op=all
http://www.wwjd.com/eforums/view/wwjd_senior/?d
Just be insidious and subversive about it, because every post must be approved by a very thickheaded moderator. There is fun to be had, though. I am on as "crystal" the airhead.
Vidi, Vici, Veni
If you note on the Most Challenged Books list, The Giver by Lois Lowry has been challenged more times than the Anarchist Cookbook. The Giver is one of the best books I have ever read.
If you have not read The Giver, the reason it is banned (as best I can figure out) is because it has mild implications that the civilization it is about either represents America or a socialism, and that either America could have faults, or socialism could have pros. All depending on how you look at it.
This just disgusts me. Where are these fascists' priorities?
Actually, it was Jefferson who *wrote* the Declaration of Independence. Hancock just signed it the most flamboyantly.
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bukra fil mish mish
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Monitor the Web, or Track your site!
Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachtani?
www.fogbound.net
He goes to the QA manager and informs him of the bug. The QA manager happens to have several people in his office at the time. He decided to test it himself. He loads up the product, everyone gathers around, and completely unaware of what he's about to see, the QA manager browses to goatse.cx. When the page loads, everyone suddenly lunges backwards in surprise, and there is a mad dash to hit ALT-F4, but not before everyone in the room has been permanently damaged by the horrible sight.
I'm willing to bet our product will soon be filtering goatse.cx.
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Comment removed based on user account deletion
Uh, don't sex offenders have to be "registered"?
Can anyone explain Taco's thought process as to what is considered news and what isn't?
To me, this was news when the contest was ANNOUNCED, and people might have a chance to participate. Therefore I submitted this story but it was rejected.
Now the story is no longer news, it's just history.
NOTE TO MODERATORS: Go ahead and moderate me down, I'm so far over the 50 point cap that harldy matters anymore.
Work for Change & GET PAID!
Oh great, you just got this discussion blocked by various filtering software©
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No more e-mail address game - see my user info. Time for revenge.
Win dain a lotica, en vai tu ri silota
Announcing Microsoft KidsGuard2000, the premiere tool for protecting your children from harmful content on the Internet, from the software company all of America has grown to love! KG2000 is guaranteed to block 100% of objectionable material from the impressionible eyes of children, as well as cut down on those high ISP charges!
People would eat it up! Stick a floppy full of Java childrens games and HTML stubs in the box along with a pair of wirecutters to snip the phone line.
.sig: Now legally binding!
When I first read this article, I XXXumed thaX XX was going to be the usual anXXXhematic bit of tripe, XXX Xhen I read it and found it to be quite amusing. You see, I have used filtering software for quite some time and thaX XX hXX Xometimes failed me has never been the case. I support freedom of sXXXch XX Xomething that is important, XXX Xhen again, as George W. XXXX said, "There ought to be limits to freedom."
Anyway, thaX XX made the front page of Slashdot (the article that is) is just another attempt by the left to pollute the minds of youth everywhere.
XX Xincerely as I can,
Me
</sarcasm>
If I could only live my life with my threshold at 4...
Of course, I'm still trying to get the Baptist Convention to proclaim me a minion of Satan. Have you joined the Minions of Satan club? Yes, paratheoanametamystikhood. You know why?
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
This is the first article that a link to goatse.cx would be on topic!
The irony, of course, is that many people probably can't even read the article because it's blocked...
"I believe that a scientist looking at nonscientific problems is just as dumb as the next guy." -Richard Feynman
The twilight zone section mentioned various pages that were censored for odd reasons. My suggestions as to why
Webcrawler - 2 possibilities.
1 - it bans all sites that are similar to banned ones. Webcralwer.com would probably be caught.
2 - It contains the word excite
Webmonkey - Has a link for backend.
I would have to agree that communication between you and your kids is the real solution. Not technology/blocking filters.
One method that I could implement (thanks to the power of Linux and IPChains) is to have my kids tell me which sites they need to be looking at and add them explicity to a DENY policy. But this is somewhat Draconian and would not foster the relationship that I want w/my children
The best solution though is proper communication and trust between parent and child, quite a rarity in these days.
Praying for the end of your wide-awake nightmare.
Someone is going to say this would be hampering the porn site operators freedom of speach, but we can come around that too. Do not take away the .com domains, but ask that they are turned into redirects. Anyone can go to hotteensex.com, but they are instantly transferred to hotteensex.sex (which the filters block)
If a site does not want to comply with this 'policy,' then do not allow them to reregister their domain when it expires.
/. is a commercial entity. goto slashdot.com
Why? Do you plan to flirt with the guard? Or are you really so very scared about having your own conscience being the arbiter of your behaviour?
-- the most controversial site on the Web
Anyone who relies upon technology or the good intentions of other people to protect their children from unwanted material is asking for trouble.
One of the key problems I see with a .kids TLD is who would administer it? I fear the control would soon fall into the hands of Toys 'R' Us and KBKids and .kids would become a massive marketing playground in which children become indoctrinated in the ways of the commericial world.
I don't have a kid, so I can't speak with much authority, but the voice of my father comes to me in regards to these situations: 'Go outside and play, let the wind blow the stink off of ya.' Idle hands are the devils playground. I do believe a child who is trying to do homework, is doing homework. Its only when he is unsupervised for a long period of time does the idea of 'seeking out' naughty stuff comes to mind.
Of course, is this any different than my sneaking into my brother's secret stash of adult magazines? No. Everything is a learning opportunity and it would behoove a parent to teach the child about acceptable behavior regarding pornography the moment the child become interested in pornography. We all know that once that interest is sparked, there is no going back. It is called puberty.
This is not the way to build a lasting empire.
If you want to do something that is actually worthwhile (and c'mon, a contest run by geeks for geeks is not it), take some of the examples, as well as some completely legitimate sites that were not meant to trip any filters, and list about 25 of them on a flyer. Then find 25 sites that are completely innappropriate for anyone* to view, and are *NOT* blocked, and list those.
Okay, everyone go pick one brand of filtering S/W and do this. Print a paragraph explaining that this instituition uses brand-X filter, include a breif synopsis of what to expect on a few of the sites, and either tape it up next to the computers or hand it out outside the library. This is something those of you doing the goatsex redirects would absolutely love, find a URL for it that hasn't been blocked and encourage people to leave their terminal on that when they leave (Okay, maybe that won't help the cause, but make sure they understand what hello.jpg is and that it's only a click or two away.)
Write another paragraph encouraging people to ask their librarian who to complain to about getting said censorware removed, and provide email addresses to the customer service contacts for the censorware companies.
*That* would be worthwhile. In fact, Rob, since you enjoy the embarassment and ridicule of censorware companies, why not host a project that has printable postscript of such files? It seems like a much more effective way to get word out to the people than having cphack.exe source code posted all over your stories like a couple of months ago. Or if someone wants to start a sourceforge page for such a project, please submit it as a story.
*Hey I said it was innapropriate, noone to blame but yourself if you click without reading...
Fist Prost
"We're talking about a planet of helpdesks."
Fist Prost
"We're talking about a planet of helpdesks."
-Jaron Lanier
Not to violate a famous law in debate (Godwin's Law, anyone know?), but the first thing the Nazis did was just ask the Jews to "register." And this has been the case time and again, probably before Herod (yet another guy who found a nefarious purpose for a list).
"Just register your adult site with us. That's all we are asking. Then we can filter out the kids."
Registration provides a convenient blacklist, hitlist, or deadpool when it comes down for the forces of Moral Majority or whomever. It makes a nice list for sudden IRS "audits." Registration is of no benefit to the people or companies registering.
Also, what constitutes "adult"? Would an art site which has nude sculpture have to go there? Just parts of the art site? How about a frank discussion of homosexuality? Birth control? What about plain old blasphemy? It isn't porn, but I'm betting that the Moral Majority would love to see Satanists (or Bhuddists, or Muslims) restricted to that TLD. Or I guess we could put it on .notgod.
No, the solution is not "segregation and registration." The solution is parents sitting down and getting involved with their kids. Parenting is a hands-on application is one of the last things we would want to automate. We cannot child-proof the world, file down all of the sharp edges, round off all of the corners, and pad all hard surfaces, not without losing what is important.
Not only did I win, but Wired interviewed me. The complete article, by Joyce Slaton, is available at: http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,39038,00. html
Check it out. I'm "Gamer" John Woods of Arlington, VA, by the way.
To be honest, I didn't expect to win--I was just sending in a description of a funny thing that happened to me...and kaboom! They wanted to interview me! I hope they send me a T-shirt or something...
Aciel
aciel@speakeasy.net
I can't believe the banning of
"The Color Purple, by Alice Walker, for sexual content and offensive language. "
I would have atleast banned it for "Wasting Time" or "Offensive Waste Of Oprah In A Movie"
If you actually read the article instead of launching into your infantile display of pseudoagressive censorship (i.e. moderation), you'd know that a masked link to goatse.cx is relevent, on topic, and insightful. Instead of taking out your subconcious anger at your mother for weaning you too early or at your father for not recusing himself from your mother's bed so that you may fulfill your oedipal desires, you should read the moderation faq and visit sid=moderation to learn about the important role and power you've abused.