Weekly column: U.S. blunders with China, Iran keyword blacklist [fs]

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

http://news.com.com/2010-1028-5204405.html

U.S. blunders with keyword blacklist
May 3, 2004, 8:00 AM PT
By Declan McCullagh
        
The U.S. government concocted a brilliant plan a few years ago: Why
not give Internet surfers in China and Iran the ability to bypass
their nations' notoriously restrictive blocks on Web sites?

Soon afterward, the U.S. International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB)
invented a way to let people in China and Iran easily route around
censorship by using a U.S.-based service to view banned sites such as
BBC News, MIT and Amnesty International.

But an independent report released Monday reveals that the
U.S. government also censors what Chinese and Iranian citizens can see
online. Technology used by the IBB, which puts out the Voice of
America broadcasts, prevents them from visiting Web addresses that
include a peculiar list of verboten keywords. The list includes "ass"
(which inadvertently bans usembassy.state.gov), "breast"
(breastcancer.com), "hot" (hotmail.com and hotels.com), "pic"
(epic.noaa.gov) and "teen" (teens.drugabuse.gov).

[...remainder snipped...]
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