"Faulty Filters" report; anti-rating free speech alliance

[From December 1 EPIC Alert --Declan]


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[2] EPIC Report Slams Internet Content Filters
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EPIC today released a report that finds that "family-friendly" search
engines typically block access to 99 percent of the material on the
Internet that would be appropriate for young people.  The report was
released just prior to a White House summit that will examine the use of
content filters and rating systems for the Internet.

EPIC's study was based on a side-by-side comparison of an unfiltered
Internet search engine (AtltaVista) with a filtered search engine.
According to Net Shepherd, Inc., its Family Search retrieval service
screens out material that is "inappropriate and/or objectionable for
average user families."  EPIC tested both search engines using such
search phrases as the "American Red Cross," the "National Aquarium," and
"Thomas Edison."  The study found that the filtered search engine
typically blocked access to 99 percent of the documents containing those
phrases when compared with results returned by AltaVista.

The EPIC report, "Faulty Filters," includes a survey of 100 search
phrases in four categories -- schools; charitable and political
organizations; educational and artistic groups; and concepts that might
be of interest to young people.

Marc Rotenberg, Director of EPIC, said, "We found that as information on
popular topics became more widely available on the Internet, the
filtered search engine was likely to block an even higher percentage.
We further found that the search engine did not seem to restrict
sensitive topics for young people any more than it restricted matters of
general interest.  Even with the very severe blocking criteria employed,
we noted that some material which parents might consider to be
objectionable was still provided by the software."

The report was released at a press conference held at the National Press
Club.  EPIC said that it was joining with several other organizations to
establish the Internet Free Expression Alliance (IFEA) to address the
free speech implications of Internet rating and filtering proposals (see
item below).

The text of the "Faulty Filters" Report is available at:

     http://www2.epic.org/reports/filter_report.html

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[2] Groups Establish Internet Free Expression Alliance
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EPIC today announced that it is joining with 20 other organizations to
establish the Internet Free Expression Alliance (IFEA).  The new
coalition will address the free speech implications of Internet rating
and filtering proposals and promote the open exchange of information on
the Internet.

The formation of IFEA comes one day before the opening of an
Administration-sponsored summit on Internet issues.  President Clinton
is on record as supporting the widespread use of content ratings and
filtering techniques to create a "family-friendly Internet."  At an
earlier summit meeting last July, the President said that it "must be
our objective" to ensure that the labeling of Internet content "will
become standard practice."

As detailed in the report EPIC released today, such rating and filtering
systems can block access to a vast amount of valuable information;
according to the EPIC report, 99 percent of all online material is
typically filtered out by a new "family-friendly" Internet search
engine. In a statement released at IFEA's inaugural press conference at
the National Press Club, EPIC Legal Counsel David Sobel said, "It is
troubling that the White House has so readily embraced an approach that
has the potential to destroy the Internet as an educational resource."

EPIC was a plaintiff in the historic ACLU v. Reno litigation, which led
to last summer's landmark Supreme Court decision striking down the
Communications Decency Act (CDA).  Many other organizations that joined
the CDA challenge are involved in the creation of IFEA.  Alliance
members include the American Civil Liberties Union, American Society of
Newspaper Editors, Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, the
Electronic Frontier Foundation, the National Coalition Against
Censorship, the National Writers Union and the Society of Professional
Journalists.

For information on IFEA can be found at:

     http://www.ifea.net


[...]

> EPIC's study was based on a side-by-side comparison of an unfiltered
> Internet search engine (AtltaVista) with a filtered search engine.
> According to Net Shepherd, Inc., its Family Search retrieval service
> screens out material that is "inappropriate and/or objectionable for
> average user families."  EPIC tested both search engines using such
> search phrases as the "American Red Cross," the "National Aquarium," and
> "Thomas Edison."  The study found that the filtered search engine
> typically blocked access to 99 percent of the documents containing those
> phrases when compared with results returned by AltaVista.

Okay, I had to try this one out for myself, and I had a perfect search
term, one I had used before with some success:  megayacht .  A megayacht
is a boat over roughly 100 feet in length, generally costing several
million dollars.  I remember dimly a fascination with things big and
powerful in my childhood, so I figured it would be an excellent search
term - especially since following a search for these terms produced
absolutely no offensive material whatsoever (*).  It turns out that,
for some reason, people who talk about megayachts don't seem frightfully
sex-mad (at least while talking about megayachts), and few could find
any offensive material in descriptions of super-rugged hatches, doors
and shore power converters.

Here's a typical page I found in AltaVista but not Net Shepherd:

(WARNING: If you find a charter rate of $ 85,000 plus a week offensive,
DO NOT under any circumstances click on the link!)

http://www.superyachts.com/bigeagle/index.htm

An admittedly cursory view of the results of the search from Net Shepherd
shows the reason for this little problem:  Each response was apparently
indiviually rated by Net Shepherd's staff.

Yikes.

Have they ever heard of sysiphus?  (And can I spell him?)

D

(*) I suppose some people would say that a megayacht is evidence of
obscene wealth.  In that case, though, Net Shephard should have censored
all occurances of the word, which it did not do.

Declan McCullagh wrote:

> EPIC today released a report that finds that "family-friendly" search
> engines typically block access to 99 percent of the material on the
> Internet that would be appropriate for young people. 

 This is no more of a surprise than the results of studies which show
that inbreeding among those in cloistered geographical areas severely
limits the genetic diversity of the enclosed population.

  "Family-friendly" inevitably boils down to being a dishonestly used
simile for "ignorant christian-values."
  Despite the fact that 'family-unfriendly Jesus' spoke of his aim of
setting family members against one another, the followers of his 
mainstream religious cult are determined to institute their own
religious values in the legal system, by working toward forcing their
own religously-oriented filtering system on all citizens.

  Tell me, please, who among the organizations claiming to work for
freedom of speech are ready to demand that the words of Jesus be
subject to the same filtering as those of Aleister Crowley?
  Who is going to demand that the works such as the Bible be subject
to the same filtering values as the works of Lenny Bruce?

> The text of the "Faulty Filters" Report is available at:
> 
>      http://www2.epic.org/reports/filter_report.html
>      http://www.ifea.net
 
  The filters are not "faulty." They do exactly what they are meant
to do--imprison the minds and life-experience of those who are forced
to use them.
  Those promoting volumandatory content ratings want to imprison 
everyone, not just their own children. I't the same old lying
religious fascists up to their same old oppression of those
who breed outside their own genetic family.
  Fuck 'em.

TruthMonger