I couldn\’t resist posting this article from the Digital Freedom Network. Does your name contain a vulgarity? If so, read on…
\”Babcock and Engineer are not the only ones who have been blocked by online filters. People named Dickinson, Sussex, Cummings, and Assisi have also been blocked.\”
I couldn\’t resist posting this article from the Digital Freedom Network. Does your name contain a vulgarity? If so, read on…
\”Babcock and Engineer are not the only ones who have been blocked by online filters. People named Dickinson, Sussex, Cummings, and Assisi have also been blocked.\”
\”In a new twist on Internet censorship, Los Angeles attorney Sherril Babcock was blocked from joining the BlackPlanet.com online service — at least until she changed her name.\”
\”When Babcock registered for access to BlackPlanet.com, a New York-based Web site dealing with African-American topics, she was told that her last name was \”unacceptable,\” presumably because it contained the word \”cock,\” and she was not permitted to register. Suspecting the matter to be a problem with the site\’s filtering technology, she contacted BlackPlanet.com to clear up the problem. She explained that \”Babcock was my father\’s name as well, and I am very fond of him.\”
\”Crystal Martin, BlackPlanet.com\’s Moderator for Member Services, responded. She apologized twice for the inconvenience, but said \”unfortunately, the letters that form the word \’Cock\’ is [sic] unacceptable and will not be recognized by our system.\”
\”CompuServe employee Manesh Engineer sympathizes with Babcock\’s plight. On most Web sites, he is unable to register his name because his last name is a reserved word. \”I guess they\’re afraid that I will pose as an engineer for the company or something,\” he complained to me after hearing about Babcock\’s situation. \”A lot of times when I order products online, sites will refuse my name even on credit card purchases!\” Engineer continued. \”And I can\’t change my user name for those purchases because then my changed name conflicts with the actual name on the card and the credit companies see that as an invalid transaction!\”
Babcock and Engineer are not the only ones who have been blocked by online filters. People named Dickinson, Sussex, Cummings, and Assisi have also been blocked, as well as scholars who publish studies on international terrorism, gay rights activists who write about AIDS, conservatives who criticize gay rights activists, and journalists who write articles on crime. All are victims of technology that tries to keep harmful material out of the hands of children but instead gives them a dangerously false sense of security.
\”Filtering software is no substitute for parental discretion. Unfortunately, most users of filtering software fail to realize just how subjective and inaccurate filtering software is. Censorware makers use secret criteria to ban Web sites. They refuse to disclose their lists of blocked sites, disclosing only broad categories about what types of sites are blocked. Most of the manufacturers allow people to type in a Web site address to see if it\’s censored and suggest addresses that should be blocked or unblocked. But the review process is imprecise and biased. Last May, the Internet freedom group Peacefire discovered that small personal home pages containing \”objectionable\” material were blocked while the Web sites of large well-funded organizations, from which the material was taken verbatim, were unblocked. By refusing to disclose their list of blocked sites, the manufacturers prevent parents and other users from knowing what is truly being censored.\”
Recent Comments