glen@intelca.UUCP (05/31/84)
In college we had an operating system on one computer that scanned all
terminal I/O for cuss words. If it found one, it would warn you not to
use such language. If it found a second, it would warn you that one more
occurrence and you would be logged out and your password changed. If
it found a third, it would log you out and change your password thus
forcing you into an embarrassing discussion with your TA to get your
account back.
Why couldn't a similar program be constructed for bulletin boards?
It could scan for suspicious words. If it found any, it could either:
warn the person about his messages of suspicious nature
or better yet, not warn the person, but instead save the messages
in some protected area where they can only be read by
the sysop. Then they could be broadcast only after the
sysop has read them and determined they were suitable.
The list of suspicious words could be kept in an easily updatable
dictionary.
Granted, this solution isn't perfect as devious users could avoid
such lingo with careful wording/misspelling, but atleast it's a step.
Maybe someday an artificial intelligence program could figure out
if the MEANING and not just the wording was appropriate for BBS's.
^ ^ Glen Shires, Intel, Santa Clara, Ca.
O O Usenet: {ucbvax!amd70,pur-ee,hplabs}!intelca!glen
> ARPA: "amd70!intelca!glen"@BERKELEY
\-/ --- stay mellowrevc@noscvax.UUCP (Bob Van Cleef) (06/01/84)
In your article you suggested that the BBS software scan the incoming text for forbidded items, such as profanity. That assumes a sophistication on the part of the computer systems that just is not available to the normal BBS operator. Remember, that the majority of these systems are bought, run, and operated as a hobby, and do not have the resources of a large computer science department behind them. Many, by design, are very simple in concept and operation. It would be a pity if a lot of the current BBS's were forced off the "air" because they didn't have the ability to install an IBM 360. Also, I would like to see the Parcer that could tell the difference between the proper and improper posting of a telephone number. Bob -- ------------------------------------------------------------- R.E. Van Cleef (REVC) Computer Sciences Corporation San Diego, CA ihnp4 \ MILNET revc@nosc akqua \ UUCP decvax -------------!sdcsvax!noscvax!revc dcdwest / ucbvax / CompuServe 71565,533
mickey@proper.UUCP (Michael Thompson) (06/02/84)
From: glen@intelca.UUCP (Glen Shires) > In college we had an operating system on one computer that scanned all > terminal I/O for cuss words. If it found one, it would warn you not to > use such language. If it found a second, it would warn you that one more > occurrence and you would be logged out and your password changed. If > it found a third, it would log you out and change your password thus > forcing you into an embarrassing discussion with your TA to get your > account back. > > Why couldn't a similar program be constructed for bulletin boards? > It could scan for suspicious words. If it found any, it could either: > > warn the person about his messages of suspicious nature > or better yet, not warn the person, but instead save the messages > in some protected area where they can only be read by > the sysop. Then they could be broadcast only after the > sysop has read them and determined they were suitable. > > The list of suspicious words could be kept in an easily updatable > dictionary. > > Granted, this solution isn't perfect as devious users could avoid > such lingo with careful wording/misspelling, but atleast it's a step. > Maybe someday an artificial intelligence program could figure out > if the MEANING and not just the wording was appropriate for BBS's. > Come on! Are you seriously suggesting automatic censoring? Look, first of all, "cuss" words are as valid a form of expression as any other. When i hear of people who can't deal with this, i immediately become livid, my blood pressure goes way up and i break out in a terrible sweat. Second of all, do you really think that your suggestion would have helped in the case we are addressing? What kind of words would such a censoring program look for? "Credit card"? "Calling card"? "AT&T"? Do you realize how many articles would have been censored from net.legal, net.consumers net.general alone! I can't claim i know of a solution, but i think that what you are suggesting is definatly a step in the wrong direction. I am sure that many of us would not even use a system that was implemented in that manner. I really hope you were kidding when you wrote that, Glen. Michael Thompson Altos Computers, Santa Clara. { The preceeding opinions may not be resold without written permission from my mother }
hoffman@pitt.UUCP (06/05/84)
glen@intelca mentioned a system that he used in college that would scan terminal I/O for cuss words, and said that a BBS could do much the same thing. A recent issue of the Computer Shopper (Patch Publishing, Titusville, FL) had several articles about BBS misuse and some of the steps taken to clean up the systems. One fellow put a cuss word filter in the part of the system where the user types his name in. It worked well for the most part, but at one point he said something like: "...and my most sincere apologies to Mr. Jack Offenheimer who was unceremoniously thrown off of my system for no good reason". Cheers, -- Bob Hoffman Pitt Computer Science
dave@rocksvax.UUCP (06/08/84)
I remember our college computer club mail system had a "naughty" word
list detector that would do bad things to the people that used them.
One bad side effect was that the system adminstrators saw the listing
of "naughty" words spill off a printer one day while the code was being
worked on.
This was a case of trying to protect your system from containing
"naughty" words but because someone was looking at the "wrong" time you
get blamed.
The file normally was encrypted, but it had to be
compiled into the program eventually and the compiler did not understand
encrypted gobbledygook so you have to have the thing readable at some time.
Of course this leaves out the most important aspect, who's to say what is
offensive/wrong. What is wrong to others maybe perfectly acceptable to
someone else....
--
Dave
Arpa: Sewhuk.HENR@Xerox.ARPA
uucp: {allegra,rochester,amd70,sunybcs}!rocksvax!dave