As luck would have it, I’ve had only one chance to get online so far, and that was on a hotel computer which would not allow me to access this blog — not the main page nor anything else. So I couldn’t even write a post complaining about it until now.
A content filtering service called (appropriately) “Net Nanny” is blocking Classical Values, as well as other blogs (Alphecca for one) which I tried to pull up. (BTW, content filtering is not a new topic on this blog.) I realize that this is not censorship, and I understand people’s concerns, but I like to think that while I don’t shy away from controversial issues, I do try to maintain civility and I try to avoid profanity or obscenity.
Either I am not trying hard enough, or there’s something else that’s found offensive by the software proprietors. I’d love to hear from anyone who is knowledgeable or has had similar experiences.
How ironic it would be if blog-blocking software like Net Nanny is in wide use by schools or other institutional facilities.
Sigh.
Imagine if the same people who teach children how to put condoms on bananas use software that blocks criticism of the condoms on bananas!
UPDATE (06/01/06): If this information from the anti-filtering site Peacefire is correct, this blog and many other blogs are incompatible with Net Nanny, no matter how cleanly we might keep them:
Net Nanny, however, blocks all pages by default that contain the words “sex”, “drugs” or “pornography”, and can even be configured to hang up the modem or lock up the computer if a banned word appears on the screen.
Gee.
Even “Democracy! Whiskey! Sexy!” ?
Comments
4 responses to “Banana nanny republic?”
well, maybe it objects to
“muthafuckah” in ‘Who needs answers when you’ve got words?’
Don’t know about Net Nanny, but over at American Digest “teacher” is banned in comments.
As a parent I can appreciate the need to filter some stuff especially considering the “dishonesty” in the way some sites tag or keyword content. Yours, however isn’t a site that I would censor or block from my kids. We don’t allow our offspring access to the internet in their rooms; all of the internet accessible computers are in the school room. We are also very careful not to scare them off of asking questions about any topic.
Sorry, I posted when I meant to preview. There is a product advertised on TV for “natural male enhancement” – enzyte?. My 13 year old daughter wanted to know what it was for. My wife deflected an explanation with “ask your father”. I explained that the product was supposed to make your penis larger and firmer. “Why?” aked my daughter. “Ask your mother” I responded.