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SmartFilter's Greatest Evils

Posted by jamie on from the and-the-winner-is dept.

Seth Finkelstein has taken a look at what gets blocked by censorware in the most categories. What would you think there is on the web that qualifies as sex, drugs, crime, gambling, sports, news, religion, art, travel, hate, gross and fun and games? Oh, and some of these sites are useful in research too. Give up?

4 of 100 comments (clear)

  1. Already There by Bouncings · · Score: 4
    We've already seen most of this. If not in the direct effects of libraries having censorware, we have history to testify to the silencing of geniuses. The difference between that and censorware is that censorware is more effective. R and X ratings don't keep people from watching those movies, and the Acadamy doesn't even pay attention.

    The only real difference I see is that the effectiveness of censorware could keep those in power from silencing muckrakers who would expose them. The social effects of censorship have already been witnessed.

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  2. Cached sites by Lawbeefaroni · · Score: 4
    What about cached sites? You could just do a Gogle search and open the cached page instead. Oops, did I just give them more to filter?

    Who decides this anyway?
    In a dank basement double-cubicle somewhere in Gotham:

    "Freshmeat.org?"
    "Definately sounds like porn. Probably kiddie stuff..."
    "Ok. Let's check it out" [drool]
    "Heh, it's our job!"[click, click, click]
    "Ugh, how disappointing..."
    "Disgusting."
    "Filter?"
    "Definately. Under self-help. Occult and militant, too."
    "I'll do porn for good measure."
    "Um...no. That file doubles as our "Adult Site Finder" for the guys upstairs."
    "Oh, yeah..."

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  3. Re:Smartfilter user's view by Captain+Derivative · · Score: 4
    After adding the filters the amount of superfluous porn browsing dropped by over 95%.

    Yes, but the important question is, did it adversely affect the amount of relevant, necessary porn browsing? <g>


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  4. Re:Smartfilter user's view by bcrowell · · Score: 4
    Maybe their bosses could just see if porn-surfing is keeping them from getting their jobs done.

    At my school, they have a pretty enlightened attitude. If a student is looking at porn in the library on a computer, a librarian walks over and says, "Excuse me, but that's against the rules."

    What's wrong with using a little common sense, and not getting freaked out about it if some porn-surfing slips through the cracks? I don't think anyone imagines that everything done on the net at a school, library, or business is related to the purpose of the institution. There's also water cooler gossip, etc., which doesn't seem to bring most businesses to their knees. Americans just have a hysterical reaction to porn. It has very little to do with efficiency.

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