Scunthorpe-Problem
The Scunthorpe Problem occurs when a spam filter or search engine blocks e-mails or search results due to the inclusion of a string of letters in the text which is mistaken for an obscene word. The content filters of computer systems are usually based on regular expressions, also known as regexes. While regexes can be used to identify strings of text within a document, setting the blocking rule too broadly will result in a false positive, causing innocent phrases to be blocked.
Origin and history
The problem was named after an incident in 1996 in which America Online's dirty-word filter prevented residents from the town of Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, England from creating accounts with AOL, because the town's name contains the substring cunt. Years later, Google's filters apparently made the same mistake, even when residents searched for local businesses with Scunthorpe in the name. Residents of Penistone, South Yorkshire, experienced problems because the town's name includes the substring penis, while Lightwater in Surrey suffered similarly because its name contains the substring twat.[1]
Pornography-filtering programs intended to protect children may fail to discriminate between sites that have sex in their titles because they carry explicit content and those like RomansInSussex.co.uk [2], which is an educational site about the history of Sussex.
Problems can also occur with the words socialism or socialist because they contain the substring Cialis, the brand name for an erectile dysfunction medication commonly advertised in spam e-mails. A similar problem can occur with the word specialist, typically blocking mailed résumés and other material including job descriptions.[3]
Computers in public libraries are usually filtered to prevent users from accessing inappropriate material, but can fall victim to the Scunthorpe Problem. A web search on the name of the Russian figure skater Irina Slutskaya may be blocked, since it includes the substring slut.
Other examples
Mistaken decisions by obscenity filters include:
- In April 1998 Jeff Gold attempted to register the domain name
shitakemushrooms.com, but was blocked by a InterNIC filter prohibiting the "seven dirty words" which was active between 1996 and the transfer of control to ICANN.[4]
- In February 2006 Linda Callahan, a resident of Ashfield, Massachusetts was initially prevented from registering her name with Yahoo! as an e-mail address as it contained the substring Allah. Yahoo! later reversed the ban.[5]
- In October 2004, it was reported that the Horniman Museum in London was failing to receive some of its e-mail due to filters mistakenly deciding that its name was a version of the words horny man.[6][7]
- In February 2004, Craig Cockburn of Scotland reported that he was unable to use his surname (pronounced "Coburn") with Hotmail, Yahoo! or his workplace computers. He discovered that his e-mails would be delivered if he spelled his name C0ckburn (with a zero instead of the letter "o").[8]
- Web searches on the Nigerian-born footballer Nwankwo Kanu may be blocked due the substring wank in his name.
- The town of Whakatane in New Zealand was blocked by its own spam filter, because the "Wh" is pronounced approximately as "F".[9]
- In July 2008, Dr. Herman I. Libshitz was initially unable to get the e-mail address he wanted from Verizon because of a word contained within his name. A spokesperson commented: "As a general rule (since 2005) Verizon doesn't allow questionable language in e-mail addresses, but we can, and do, make exceptions based on reasonable requests. The one from Dr. and Mrs. Libshitz certainly is reasonable and we regret the inconvenience and frustration they've been caused." [10]
Additionally there can be cases of whole word filtering, showing that computer obscenity filters may fail to take into account the context in which a word appears:
- In May 2006 Ray Kennedy from Manchester in the UK found that e-mails that he had written to his local council to complain about a planning application had been blocked as they contained the word erection when referring to a structure.[11]
- In October 2004, e-mails advertising the pantomime Dick Whittington sent by a teacher from Norwich in the UK were blocked by school computers due to the use of the word Dick.[12]
- In February 2003 Members of Parliament at the British House of Commons found that a new spam filter was blocking e-mails containing references to the Sexual Offences Bill then under debate, as well as some messages relating to a discussion about censorship.[13]
- Résumés of magna cum laude graduates have been blocked by spam filters due to inclusion of the word cum.[14]
See also
- Censorship by Google
- Medireview
- Regular expression examples
- Swear filter
- Spam blacklist: a list of words and domain names blocked by regex rules at Wikimedia
References
- ↑ http://news.com.com/2100-1032_3-5198125.html CNET article on the Scunthorpe Problem.
- ↑ Romans in Sussex
- ↑ http://www.pekingduck.org/archives/002371.php Example of a website that blocks the substring Cialis.
- ↑ Paul Festa: Food domain found "obscene". News.com, 27. April 1998.
- ↑ Kallahar's Place: Is Yahoo Banning Allah?
- ↑ Name Of Museum Is Confused With Porn (from News Shopper)
- ↑ Horniman Museum
- ↑ Print Article: How Mr C0ckburn fought spam
- ↑ F-word town censors itself on the internet. Abgerufen am 1. August 2008.
- ↑ When your name gets turned against you. Abgerufen am 3. August 2008.
- ↑ BBC E-mail filter blocks 'erection' 30 May 2006
- ↑ Sam Jones Panto email falls foul of filth filter The Guardian 14 October 2004
- ↑ BBC E-mail vetting blocks MPs' sex debate 4 February 2003
- ↑ Kris Maher: Don't Let Spam Filters Snatch Your Resume. In: Career Journal. Abgerufen am 11. Februar 2008.