Update - 4/3 -Taking aim at filters

[Art Wolinsky <awolinsky@OII.ORG>]

Hi Gang,

Here we go with today's gems.

Sctiger speculated that this a picture of a snow covered field might have
been blocked because the author used the word "butt" in the description of
how the picture was taken. ("I was crouching down low enough that my butt
was in the snow...")
http://mux.net/~gaynor/scrap/990307-snow.html

While it is possible that the word "butt" may be the reason,  I have a
feeling it is the ~ (tilde) that is the culprit.  The tilde is almost
always a personal home page that is created when a person's account is
opened.  Many filters automatically block personal home pages, because they
often contain pornography.

Sctiger, if you are reading this, try going to
http://www.concentric.net/~awolinsk or http://www.srsd.org/~awolinsky and
let me know whether they are blocked.  If they are, then we know it is the
tilde that is the problem.

Miriam got blocked at http://www.gospelcom.net/bible by WebSense.  She
noted that, "WebSense restricts access to Traditional and Nontraditional
Religions, Banking and Finance and Lifestyles (which includes Health)"

AJ got blocked at a holocaust site and asked two weeks ago to have it
unblocked. She was told it would have to be reviewed by a committee, but
has not been able to find out who is on the committee and hasn't heard
anything in two weeks.

Are you starting to get a feeling that this problem is bigger than many
people believe?  We haven't even begun to scratch the surface yet.

Last night I read a chilling report on some new technology that is being
developed for filters.  The report dealt with digital cameras that will
send picture and encrypted message to police if the camera is used to take
pornographic pictures.  I can see the police breaking down the door as I
take pictures of my grandchild being bathed by his mother.
http://www.cluebot.com/article.pl?sid=01/04/01/2155249

The article also mentioned a filter that uses artificial intelligence to
recognize pornographic images.  The filter doesn't actually reside on your
computer. This was a technology we discussed at the Academy of Science
workshop in October.  They said it was still in its infancy.  When I went
to the site and read about the filter, it sounded promising.
<http://www.exotrope.com/>

Check out this statement.  "The BAIR has proven over 99% effective in
20,000,000 attempts in blocking sexually explicit Web pages."  As I read on
and saw some of the upcoming features, I suspected that this filter wasn't
ready for prime time, but the write-up was interesting and it got PC
magazine's Editor's Choice award.

I was impressed, so I downloaded it and tested it.  Now I'm DEPRESSED and
if I had a subscription to PC magazine, I would cancel it.  I would love to
know what kind of test they ran.  It blocks text based searched and search
results.  I couldn't do a search for sex education and many other related
searches for appropriate material.  There was no way for me to disable the
text blocking and just use the picture recognition.

Heck, if I shut off the power to my PC, it will block 100% of all adult
sites.  Will that get me the Editors Choice award?  The computer would only
be a little less useful than my computer was with BAIR installed.

If you think filtering is the only thing not run efficiently up on The
Hill, listen to this.  I just got an urgent email inviting me to a policy
briefing in D.C.  The meeting is in less than 24 hours and they must have
an RSVP no later than YESTERDAY.

I'm going to take two Excedrin and go lie down for a while.

Take care,
Art


***************************************************************
Art Wolinsky                                awolinsky@oii.org
OII Technology Director         http://oii.org/
East Coast Facilitator           http://web-and-flow.com/
National Action Committee    http://www.wiredkids.org
(609) 597-9481 ext 337          (609) 698-8223

***************************************************************
I am perfectly capable of learning from my mistakes.
I will surely learn a great deal today.
***************************************************************

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