IP: RE: Size of the web, and attempts to filter it

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

> Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2000 10:50:06 -0500
> To: farber () cis upenn edu
> From: "Dorothy E. Denning" <denning () cs georgetown edu>
>
> Dave,
>
> My understanding is that at least some these filtering programs operate
> with disallow lists.  For example, Cyber Patrol has a CyberNOT list.  That
> would mean the default is allowed -- unless you fall within a subdomain of
> something else that isn't (don't put your Web pages on a site that hosts a
> lot of porn :)
>
> Many interesting problems in computing are intractable if you insist on a
> brute force approach to find a perfect solution.  That's why we have
> heuristics and it's made computing all the more interesting and challenging.
>
> In this case the filtering companies can fall back on feedback when their
> heuristics fail.  Parents will complain if stuff is allowed that shouldn't
> be, and site owners and groups like the Censorware Project will complain
> when stuff is excluded that should not be.  For example, after Censorware
> complained about 67 sites blocked by Cyber Patrol in late 1997, 55 were
> taken off the CyberNOT list.
>
> Dorothy
>
>
> > > From: "Shaya Potter" <spotter () yucs org>
> > > To: <farber () cis upenn edu>
> > > Subject: RE: Size of the web, and attempts to filter it
> > > Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2000 09:42:24 -0500
> > > X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook IMO, Build 9.0.2416 (9.0.2910.0)
> > > Importance: Normal
> > >
> > >
> > > This is missing the point that the effective censoring programs aren't 
> going
> > > to say "we will allow the entire internet, but disallow specific 
> sites", but
> > > are going to essentially disallow the entire internet, and then allow
> > > selective sites.  Most users/families/companies don't need access to every
> > > possible site on the net, and it's much easier for them to deal with
> > > requests to add sites to the allowed list, than to try to keep up with 
> sites
> > > to add to a disallowed list.
> > >
> > > This isn't such an original idea, as many firewalls can act in this way
> > > (disallow everything, but what I explicitly allow), and I have seen ads for
> > > ISPs only targeted at families that specificaly do the above.
> > >
> > > Shaya Potter