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

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

[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.

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.

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.

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!

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:But...

[Anonymous Coward]

Big Brother knows what's best for us.

Don't you mean "bing" brother?