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Microsoft's Bing Refuses Search Term "Sex" In India

Posted by timothy on from the back-to-spontaneous-generation dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Apparently Microsoft is censoring search results for Bing in India and other countries. If you try to search for the term 'sex,' along with lots of variations, from India using Microsoft's new search engine, an error message is returned that says, 'the search sex may return sexually explicit content. To get results, change your search terms.' There's no preference setting or toggle-on-or-off choice; you simply cannot search for the term 'sex' in India if you are using Bing. While a user still can change their country and try the non-Indian version of Bing, this seems like an unnecessary step and unnecessary censorship on the part of Microsoft. Apparently Google has no problem with Indians searching for the term 'sex.'"

14 of 355 comments (clear)

  1. and then... it was banned. by im_thatoneguy · · Score: 5, Informative

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pornography_in_India

    Pornography is illegal in India. I assume the reason Microsoft bans the word "Sex" is ensure it is not sued as a pornography distributor.

    1. Re:and then... it was banned. by im_thatoneguy · · Score: 3, Informative

      Google hasnt been sued yet.....

      Yet. They have been in the US.

      The Indian law is far more general than US law.

      Publishing of information which is obscene in electronic form. - Whoever publishes or transmits or causes to be published in the electronic form, any material which is lascivious or appeal to the prurient interest or if its effect is such as to tend to deprave and corrupt persons who are likely, having regard to all relevant circumstances, to read, see or hear the matter contained or embodied in it, shall be punished on first conviction with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to five years and with fine...

      Being simply responsible for transmitting pornography is punishable as a crime.

      If I was a lawyer and I read that law I would advise my client to at least make token efforts of compliance.

  2. What happens if you type "zzzz"? by Cassini2 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Does "zzzz" get you sex?

    Microsoft Spell Check Easter Eggs.

  3. Re:In all fairness to Microsoft by Sc4Freak · · Score: 5, Informative

    It wasn't a government demand, but Microsoft voluntarily banned these search terms in order to comply with local laws in various countries.

    An article on Ars Technica found that 20% of regions had sexual content blocked.

    The article states, "Microsoft says it determined this list of regions by looking at their local laws. The company is not taking action in response to specific government demands or regulations; it is simply playing it safe."

  4. Re:Duh. by DMalic · · Score: 4, Informative

    sex discrimination and sex crimes are blocked (just tested).

  5. Google definitely has no problem with it... by Z80xxc! · · Score: 4, Informative

    Apparently Google has no problem with Indians searching for the term 'sex.'

    From google trends searching for Sex:

    Regions:

    1. India
    2. Egypt
    3. Indonesia
    4. Morocco
    5. Turkey

    Cities:

    1. Delhi, India
    2. Chennai, India
    3. Jakarta, Indonesia
    4. Mumbai, India
    5. Rabat, Morocco

    Yeah I'd say google has absolutely no problem with people in India searching for "sex".

  6. Re:Duh. by nacturation · · Score: 2, Informative

    "sexual discrimination" does work though... just not "sex discrimination".

    --
    Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
  7. Re:My office mate from India by sharanx182 · · Score: 3, Informative

    it's not really that common, frankly....it's not 'common' at all...if you had to ask me, but you'd rather believe a wandering comedian than me wouldn't you? think about it. im indian btw. in 'red, white and brown' Mr. Peters made some pretty strange 'accusations' about india, which, not exactly 'offended', but intrigued/confused a lot of us, while watching it me and my friends were like "huh?" "whats he saying?" and "what a load of bullcrap! (jovially)" :-P so i guess the point im trying to make is, he is not, the best source of 'information' about a country :)

  8. Re:Duh. by blues_shuffle · · Score: 2, Informative
    Gender and sex are not synonymous when discussing discrimination. There is a sharp distinction between sexual discrimination and gender discrimination. As an example, sexual discrimination would be something like "you must have a penis to be in management," whereas gender discrimination is when a male that identifies (and thus dresses) as a woman gets harassed when entering a public restroom.

    And I don't know if snakes really have gender.

  9. Re:Duh. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    No, it isn't.

    sechs, IPA: [zeks]
    Sex, IPA: [seks]

    Obviously, the difference lies in the voiced and voiceless alveolar fricatives, if you know what I'm talking about. Because I, in spite of being German for quite a while now, don't.

  10. Re:My office mate from India by Tubal-Cain · · Score: 2, Informative

    Sure. I'm in cell A18. Ask for 'Bubba'.

  11. Re:My office mate from India by ethana2 · · Score: 2, Informative

    You got it. Induction stoves. About time, eh?

  12. Re:My office mate from India by dfjunior · · Score: 2, Informative

    it's real as shit and it barely nicks a hot dog: http://www.sawstop.com/howitworks/how_overview.php

  13. Re:My office mate from India by Jeremy+Erwin · · Score: 3, Informative

    You'll need to replace the brake assembly and and possibly the blade It's mildly expensive, but it you have a spare assembly, it can be replaced in five minutes.