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

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.'"

Comments

No matter what the search engine says,

[palegray.net]

... there is no sex in India's champagne room.

Re:No matter what the search engine says,

[ydrol]

To Paraphrase Russell Peters,

"India is the second largest population in the world. Somebody's fucking..."

Re:No matter what the search engine says,

[interkin3tic]

No! If people from India can't search for sex, they might not know how to do it! Think of what that would do to their population!

and then...

[SinShiva]

there was pron.

But...

[Eggplant62]

Big Brother knows what's best for us. Now, sit down, shut up, and consume consume consume, work work work, buy buy buy.

Re:But...

[Anonymous Coward]

Big Brother knows what's best for us.

Don't you mean "bing" brother?

My office mate from India

[Anonymous Coward]

used to say that gay people were not "a problem" in India, since no one there was really gay. But it was OK for men to hold hands in public.

Re:My office mate from India

[Anonymous Coward]

I am from India. It is such a ridiculous statement that no one is gay in India. (I am going ignore his implication that being gay is a "problem")

Just curious, why is it so bad in the US for two men to hold hands in public ?

Re:My office mate from India

[palegray.net]

It's not "bad" per se, it's just a cultural taboo as in the US such behavior implies homosexuality, which still carries a serious stigma.

Re:My office mate from India

[Beardo the Bearded]

Because lots of men don't wash their hands, and it grosses people out that they've doubled the chances of spreading swine flu.

Re:My office mate from India

[Hikaru79]

It is done in India and it has no gay connotations whatsoever. In fact I think you'd offend and confuse anyone by suggesting it is related to homosexuality. Walking down the street holding hands with your male relative or friend is just done, the same way shaking hands (for instance) isn't gay here.

Re:My office mate from India

[sharanx182]

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 :)

Re:My office mate from India

[Hurricane78]

My approach to things like this changed. I just don't care for shit like that. When it's hot, I like to run around barefoot. Even when shopping, etc.
And I make it look good. Fitting clothing style. Clean. And self-confident.
Now I get more girls talking to me *because* of it.

I think the trick is, to have a stronger reality. Of what is right and cool.
If you manage to drag others in your reality, you can do what you like.

So partially, it's people themselves, running around in fear, acting kinda ashamed, that makes other people think it's normal to treat them like this.
Same thing with learned wrong assumptions about yourself. Like people thinking they are stupid, therefore giving up earlier, and not even trying to achieve some goals.

I found it very healthy, to re-check all your most basic assumptions at most every 10 years. You will be surprised which one have absolutely no scientific base, but were very very deeply connected to every thought of yours.

Re:My office mate from India

[general_re]

I found it very healthy, to re-check all your most basic assumptions at most every 10 years. You will be surprised which one have absolutely no scientific base, but were very very deeply connected to every thought of yours.

Absolutely. Don't assume that a hot stove will burn you - you should go right ahead and stick your hand on there every ten years or so, just in case.

Re:My office mate from India

[oneiron]

Yea, especially if you haven't been paying attention to stove technology... In ten years, stoves may be able to return to room temperature in an instant when exposed to living tissue. I'd hate to miss out on cool tech like that just because of assumptions based on old info.

Re:My office mate from India

[parlancex]

10 years ago you probably wouldn't have an induction based stovetop, so if you did now then yes, the assumption that it would burn you would be false.

Re:My office mate from India

[encoderer]

You just have to wear it proud. That's the problem with AIDS, too many people walking around ashamed of the lesions on their face. I walk around with lesions and I make it look good. More girls talk to me *because* of it.

Re:My office mate from India

[The Grand Falloon]

Y'ever beat the shit out of your mom with that cane? 'Cause you probably should.

Re:My office mate from India

[bentcd]

I saw a thing on a some cable channel show, where a saw blade would instantly stop [sawstop.com] when you put your finger into it.

I would very much want to know, and I would test it -- not with a human finger, but with something I wouldn't mind seeing chopped in half. If it fails the test, it goes back to the store. If it's a scam, they get what they deserve -- if it's merely defective, I get one that actually works.

If this is the one they showed on Time Warp then triggering the automatic stop also breaks the machine (all that energy has to go /somewhere/) so it will be going back to the store whether it works or not.

The one you get back will either be a different one or a repaired one, and you would of course have to test to see if the automatic stop still works . . .

Re:My office mate from India

[tonique]

Ken sent me.

Wait... uh...

Re:My office mate from India

[Jeremy Erwin]

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.

Re:My office mate from India

[dunkelfalke]

Even an induction stove can get pretty hot after use because the heat of the cookware transfers back to the top plate. It can even get so hot that the stove gives an error and shuts down because of overheating.

Work-related?

[Excaliburszone]

Perhaps Microsoft doesn't want it's tech support searching for certain things while on the job?

Re:'sex may return sexually explicit content'

[Anonymous Coward]

No shit, Sherlock.

Keep digging Watson.

Pointing out the obvious...

[Anonymous Coward]

If their population, and the Kama Sutra, are any indication, the cat is definitely out of the bag! Why Microsoft would choose to limit this information is beyond me...

Tested and confirmed but...

[thetoadwarrior]

It does stop you form searching for sex. Guess what, goatse gives the same result too! However you can search for:

allah is gay
gay
nigger
make bombs
bombing building
bme pain olympics
2 girls 1 cup

Re:Tested and confirmed but...

[wild_quinine]

However you can search for: allah is gay gay nigger make bombs bombing building bme pain olympics 2 girls 1 cup

... And since Microsoft has blocked the things it disapproves of, we can only assume that they're in favour of all of the above, especially the bottom one.

Somebody who isn't a shit-eating, racist, lesbian, terrorist ought to sue the pants off them.

Re:Duh.

[slarrg]

Sure, it's impossible that someone might be trying to read laws about sex discrimination or how to determine the sex of a snake or something.

Foot, meet gun

[Lonewolf666]

Congratulations, Microsoft. You have just blocked one of the most popular topics on the internet, forcing people to use an other search engine. Google will love this decision ;-)

In all fairness to Microsoft

[nurb432]

The Indian government might have demanded it.. stranger things have happened.

Re:In all fairness to Microsoft

[Sc4Freak]

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."

and then... it was banned.

[im_thatoneguy]

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.

Re:and then... it was banned.

[witherstaff]

It's still used, it's part of what firefox so great.

Why the name "libpr0n"?

The main goal of the library is to render pornographic images in an efficient way. Plus, the name "imglib2" is boring.

Re:and then... it was banned.

[im_thatoneguy]

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.

Re:So search for sex,the natural way

[Stormwatch]

Huh? They have names?

They must be related, usually their last name is "jpg".

What happens if you type "zzzz"?

[Cassini2]

Does "zzzz" get you sex?

Microsoft Spell Check Easter Eggs.

Re:Duh.

[DMalic]

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

Re:Duh.

[Darkness404]

Well, some people don't, some people search for a general term. For example I knew someone who was searching for Dick's Sporting Goods which is a major sporting goods retailer... He made the mistake of just typing in "Dicks" in Google. There are a few less obvious ones, "coke" can refer to both a drug (cocaine) or a beverage (coca-cola) and so even typing in "how to make coke" might contain information on refining the coca leaf or how to emulate the flavor of coca-cola. Sure, when you type in "sex" you are practically begging for porn, but similarly if you search for "pots" (most search engines ignore plurals so it comes out as just "pot") how do you know what they are searching for? Either cookware or drugs. If they tried to remove all references to drugs too they would run into problems like that. While "sex" is rather obvious, others are not.

Population Control

[CougMerrik]

There's how many people in India? Over a billion? Maybe it should just redirect to "Did you mean to search for Birth Control?"

It's not just India...

[ElKry]

There's an entire list of countries where the search returns that message, including germany:

China
Hong Kong
Indonesia
Malaysia
Thailand
Turkey
And a lot of middle-east places, actually.

A lots of those I can see how this could make some warped sense for religious/political reasons, but can someone clarify why Germany? What makes it special?

Re:It's not just India...

[feepness]

A lots of those I can see how this could make some warped sense for religious/political reasons, but can someone clarify why Germany? What makes it special?

Have you seen German porn?! Blocking the term there is a public service!

Google definitely has no problem with it...

[Z80xxc!]

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".

They're afraid that people will...

[jazcap]

RTFM. With the emphasis on the F.

Any single female indian girls?

[DiSKiLLeR]

A lot of Indian's seem to be posting here, sooo.... any single Indian females by any chance? :)

(Yup, I'm gonna be modded down to hell, I just know it, but you can't blame a guy for trying !)

Re:Any single female indian girls?

[chrisarn]

Haha, you are quite right girls are like domain names: All the good ones are taken, but you can always find one in a foreign country...

who needs sex education in india

[circletimessquare]

its not like its a highly overpopulated, poor country, right?

better to keep indians ignorant of sex, in case they were to learn it might not be a good idea to bring yet another mouth to feed into the world

Misspelling gets around it

[Nakor BlueRider]

I did a search for:

se x

And got all the results for 'sex'

Re:Duh.

[wisty]

"Hot blondes" is blocked. "Hot dirty blondes" is OK.

Go figure.

Also, "Two girls one cup", "goatsie", and "tubgirl" pass. I guess they still have some work to do.

Re:Duh.

[ultranova]

Also, "Two girls one cup", "goatsie", and "tubgirl" pass. I guess they still have some work to do.

What kind of pervert would consider these sexual in nature, thought? Wisty, you sicko!