21. August 2000
Zensurfilter-Panne im Internet
Meldung von: q/depesche 00.8.21/2
Neues vom Filterwahn
Nicht mehr ganz taufrisch, aber aufgrund der inhärenten Idiotie ein Must: eine Frau
Babcock wurde von einem US-Provider nicht als Kunde akzeptiert, weil dessen Filtersoftware
den "cock" nach "Bab" und damit den ganzen Namen blockierte. [Anmerkung für nicht englisch-kundige: cock = Penis]
relayed by Bobson Wong <bwong@dfn.org> via gilc-plan@gilc.org
WEB SITE BANS WOMAN WITH "UNACCEPTABLE" NAME
NEWARK, N.J., August 18, 2000 - 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 changes 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
simple matter of the site's overly ambitious censorware, she contacted BlackPlanet.com
hoping 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." Omar Wasow, BlackPlanet.com's executive director,
intends to continue using the censorware. Though he described himself as a strong
supporter of free speech, he defended his use of censorware as an attempt to not offend
his site's membership, even though there would be casualties like Sherril Babcock. When
asked if he would register Babcock manually, thereby bypassing the censorware, Wasow
explained that if the censorware made bad decisions even
only one percent of the time, it would have meant over 8,000 manual entries given the
current population of his online community. Babcock would just have to change her
registration name to please the censorware. End of matter. Babcock is still not a member,
and cyber-rights groups are having a good laugh over this latest episode of
censorware's shortcomings. "Censorware is a non-solution for a non-problem. It
doesn't block what it intends to, most of which doesn't hurt anyone, and it blocks
far too much of what it shouldn't. It's a failure and it's scary that some want public
libraries to adopt this junk," said Alan Brown, Internet development director for the
Digital Freedom Network.
The episode reminded Babcock of America Online's ban of the word "breast"
in its chat rooms. The ban was only overturned when members of a breast cancer survivor's
group complained that the ban left them with very little to talk about. According to the
cyber-rights organization Peacefire, Internet censorware is so flawed that various
versions have blocked Web sites including Time Magazine, the National Organization for
Women, the Vatican, the Heritage Foundation, and even sites about dogs. "Would St.
Francis of Assisi or Emily Dickinson also have been banned from BlackPlanet.com?",
asked Bobson Wong, executive director of the Digital Freedom Network. The Digital Freedom
Network (DFN) promotes human rights around the world by developing new methods of activism
with Internet technology and by providing an online voice to those attacked simply for
expressing themselves. DFN creates
Internet applications to fight censorship, acquires technology tools for other activists,
launches Internet-based campaigns on behalf of human rights, and serves as a technical
resource for activists worldwide.
DFN's Web site is http://dfn.org
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