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Does Your Company Censor the Content for You?

Posted by Cliff on from the a-stealth-filter dept.

JAZ asks: "A few days ago a friend of mine and I were discussing this story. He was trying to make a joke about some content in the article that might be considered 'inappropriate' (the bit concerning 22,000 files). I didn't get his joke because the interesting bits weren't there. With a little investigation, I determined that my company's proxy server was delivering a modified version. Is this a common practice? Has anyone else noticed something similar?"

"In this case, words were not just filtered out, but the text had been changed so that the document still made sense. I suspect that someone monitoring a log and suddenly saw a document show up a bunch of times with the offending text in it. Then they modified the cached copy (I was viewing it a day after it hit the Slashdot front page) to make the alarm go away.

I have mix feelings about this, on one hand, even though the text in this case was meant as a joke and the content wasn't very offensive, I was using company equipment. But on the other hand, this company is a government regulated entity which isn't above pressuring its employees to vote the way management thinks is best (whether it is or not is a question for history). So I guess I'm scared that the company could push an agenda though 'stealth channels'. I realize that the information I read online can't always be trusted, but there are many people who don't know that. It's probably important to note that, while there is a policy of acceptable computer use, there has never been a notice that they might change the content we see online.

What are the feelings and/or experience of the Slashdot crowd on this?"

5 of 434 comments (clear)

  1. Sad but true, Stephen King, dead at 56 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    I just heard some sad news on talk radio - Horror/Sci Fi writer Stephen King was found dead in his Maine home this morning. There weren't any more details. I'm sure everyone in the Slashdot community will miss him - even if you didn't enjoy his work, there's no denying his contributions to popular culture. Truly an American icon.

  2. What? by Pan+T.+Hose · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    What are you talking about? Do I know you? Is that some kind of stupid joke?

    --
    Sincerely,
    Pan Tarhei Hosé, PhD.
    "Homo sum et cogito ergo odi profanum vulgus et libido."
  3. Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic


    What are you talking about? Do I know you? Is that some kind of stupid joke?

    Do you think it is a joke? Do you find it funny? Let me tell you who I know: I know a very interesting lady, a certain Madame Sado Domina. Do you know her maybe?

  4. Who are you? by Pan+T.+Hose · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Who are you? I have no idea what are you talking about. If you really know me then you should also know my email address instead of contacting me here on Slashdot.

    --
    Sincerely,
    Pan Tarhei Hosé, PhD.
    "Homo sum et cogito ergo odi profanum vulgus et libido."
  5. Why not on Slashdot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic


    Who are you? I have no idea what are you talking about. If you really know me then you should also know my email address instead of contacting me here on Slashdot.

    Why shouldn't I contact you here on Slashdot? Don't you want others to know about it? You always seemed to enjoy publically mentioning many interesting stories especially about your employees you fired or sued and I think Slashdot is much less public than, say, local newspapers. And now you suddenly don't want to talk about your good friend, Madame Sado Domina? Why is that?