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Content Most Foul: the British Library's Nanny Filter Blocks 'Hamlet'

An anonymous reader writes "A man using the British Library's public wi-fi found that access to an on-line copy of 'Hamlet' was blocked for 'violent content'. Now, it is true that 'Hamlet' is pretty violent (8 murders, including one before the play starts, plus one suicide). But the heavy-handed irony of a guardian of British cultural heritage censoring the greatest work of British literature is just too blatant to be ignored. Library staff initially didn't seem too interested in fixing the problem, but in the end they adjusted the filters."

6 of 107 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Not So by radiumsoup · · Score: 4, Funny

    Anon, Anon C., you should have posted non-anon.

    /+5 cometh for thee (or something like that)

  2. Why... by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 5, Funny

    > "Library staff initially didn't seem too interested in fixing the problem, but in the end they adjusted the filters."

    Nooooooooooo! They were trying to get kids thinking it was forbidden to them.

    --
    (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
  3. Re:Not So by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Does it also block it if it's in the original Klingon?

  4. Re:Not So by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Aha! So it was really blocked for copyright infringement.

  5. Re:Not So by nukenerd · · Score: 5, Funny

    The British version of this joke is about an American seeing the play, and complaining afterwards that the writer had merely strung a load of quotations together.

    Oops, this is an American web site.

  6. Re:Not So by M.+Baranczak · · Score: 3, Funny

    Both King Lear and The Tempest are better plays.

    The Tempest is merely a British remake of Gilligan's Island.