IT: SmartFilter blacklists computer science library as 'Sex'

[Seth Finkelstein]

 Subject: IT: SmartFilter blacklists computer science library as 'Sex'
 Date: Thu, 7 Mar 2002 15:57:53 -0500

I've archived this at http://sethf.com/anticensorware/smartfilter/damage1.php

[Summary - SmartFilter blacklisted a web digital library devoted to
"NIPS", that is, "Neural Information Processing Systems", as 'Sex'.
The reason should be obvious, but if not, take a look at the
(surprisingly, unblacklisted) site http://www.bcpl.net/~lpettijo/2cndpage.html

Note censorware advocates sometimes deride these reports as legends and
stories. You can verify this blacklisting by clicking on the following
URL:

http://www.securecomputing.com/cgi-bin/filter_whereV301.cgi?url_check=Check+URLs&url_string1=http://nips.djvuzone.org

Of course, after this is publicized, SmartFilter'll eventually change it,
and the censorware blacklist will be assumed perfect once again ...

My previous reports on SmartFilter:
SmartFilter's Greatest Evils:
http://sethf.com/anticensorware/smartfilter/greatestevils.php
SmartFilter - I've Got A Little List:
http://sethf.com/anticensorware/smartfilter/gotalist.php
]

[Forwarded with permission]

 From: Yann LeCun
 Subject: SmartFilter blocks computer science library
 Date: Thu, 7 Mar 2002 13:42:12 -0500

Seth,

I thought you might be amused to know that the NIPS Online web 
site ( http://nips.djvuzone.org ) is currently being blocked by 
SmartFilter. This may be a good example of the "collateral damage" 
caused by censorware. NIPS Online is a free digital library that 
provides access to the proceedings of a yearly computer science 
conference called Neural Information Processing Systems (NIPS).

I am the creator and maintainer of NIPS Online, and I am not sure
why my site is being blocked (the content is as innocuous as can be),
though I suspect the acronym NIPS may have something to do with it.

What I know is that prominent scientists at some industry research 
labs are being denied access to important scientific publications 
because their employer uses bad censorware (not that there is such 
a thing as good censorware).

Regards,

  -- Yann LeCun

____________________________________________________________________
 Yann LeCun                        Fellow, Computer Science Division
 NEC Research Institute        tel:+1(609)951-2614 fax:(609)951-2482
 4 Independence Way          yann[at]research[dot]nj[dot]nec[dot]com
 Princeton, NJ 08540-6634, USA.                http://yann.lecun.com

--
Seth Finkelstein  Consulting Programmer  sethf at sethf.com  http://sethf.com
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/19/technology/circuits/19HACK.html
Seth Finkelstein's Infothought list - http://sethf.com/infothought/