[NIFL-TECHNOLOGY:2687] Re: Internet censorship

From: Steve Linberg (steve@silicongoblin.com)
Date: Fri Dec 06 2002 - 21:32:11 EST


Return-Path: <nifl-technology@literacy.nifl.gov>
Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id gB72WBX13551; Fri, 6 Dec 2002 21:32:11 -0500 (EST)
Date: Fri, 6 Dec 2002 21:32:11 -0500 (EST)
Message-Id: <Pine.LNX.4.44.0212062129190.14439-100000@shagrat.silicongoblin.com>
Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov
Reply-To: nifl-technology@literacy.nifl.gov
Originator: nifl-technology@literacy.nifl.gov
Sender: nifl-technology@literacy.nifl.gov
Precedence: bulk
From: "Steve Linberg" <steve@silicongoblin.com>
To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-technology@literacy.nifl.gov>
Subject: [NIFL-TECHNOLOGY:2687] Re: Internet censorship
X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Status: O
Content-Length: 1089
Lines: 24

On Wed, 4 Dec 2002, Carol Morris wrote:

> A little off topic, but one of my favorite "censorship stories" in
> working with adult learners is: I was signing up a student for a free
> Hotmail account. His last name contained the letters "anal". Hotmail
> would not accept his name. I had to explain why. He was forced to change
> the correct spelling of his last name to meet the requirements. Seems
> ridiculous!

I had to write something like this for LiteracyLink and other systems I
worked on.  You have to disallow the obvious four-letter words from being
parts of usernames, but there's a big gray area where it's not as clear.  
You can't disallow "ass" for similar reasons: "Cassandra", and so forth.  
You can't really win - you've got to do SOMETHING to stop people from
naming themselves m****f****er, but ultimately you can't thwart someone
really determined to just squiggle around your rules and still be
obnoxious. :)

-- 
Steve Linberg, Chief Goblin 
Silicon Goblin Technologies 
http://silicongoblin.com 
Be kind.  Remember, everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. 



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Fri Jan 17 2003 - 14:44:50 EST