90-year-old Canadian history magazine The Beaver is changing its name. Why? In brief, Internet filters. In being named for the dam-building creature that is Canada’s national emblem, it is also named for a prominent slang word for female genitalia. This means that anyone behind a web filter, such as those commonly used at schools and libraries, may be unable to read it.
This is only the latest in a number of problems caused by overenthusiastic filter software. Residents of British towns of Scunthorpe, Penistone, and Lightwater have had problems with getting Internet services because their names contained obscenities.
And it has long been known that filters often prevent research into subjects such as breast cancer. Schools are having other problems with filters, too.
One teacher wanted to show students some pictures that would illustrate the effects of atomic testing. "However when I went to bring the wikipedia page up at school during class, it was blocked by our internet filter, BESS. The name of the islands? ‘Bikini Atoll,’" said Doug Johnson, quoting the teacher. Johnson, a director of media and technology at a Minnesota school district, put out a call in July for stories about how Internet filtering hobbles education, and got an earful. ("Censorship by Omission")
The problem with filtering software is that it is generally considered better to have false positives than false negatives—better to filter a dozen breast cancer sites than let one porn site slip through—and there is no real incentive to improve. Pity those in Australia who will have to emigrate to obtain an unfiltered Internet feed.
As more news and other information moves on-line, filters are going to have an unfortunate effect on more and more people who read the news and other information on-line.
This isn’t just something that magazine and website readers will have to consider, either. It is not impossible that e-books could be filtered out, or even entire e-book publishers if they are deemed to publish indecent material.
And rather than a government agency, control over what gets filtered is being left in the hands of the private companies running the filters—many of whom are reluctant to reveal exactly what they are filtering out.
