Google Filter Blocks Innocuous Sites

from the oops dept

Ben Edelman may not be allowed to reverse engineer N2H2's internet filters, but that hasn't stopped him from checking out other filters. His latest report says that Google's "SafeSearch" feature (does anyone actually use this?) blocks a ton of innocuous sites, including corporate sites from Apple and IBM, a bunch of government sites (including some at the White House), an SAT prep site and the Washington Post. These results aren't the result of a human being too prudish (or too quick to judge) - as is the case at other filtering companies, but because it's all based on Google algorithms, so there's bound to be some mistakes. Of course, since no one is required to use Google's SafeSearch, this isn't as big a deal. However, Edelman points out that Google might want to work on improving its filtering mechanism. Google, for their part, admits that the filters go a little too far - but point out that the people who turn it on (since it is voluntary) are much more concerned about things slipping through, than they are about accidentally blocking innocuous sites.

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