Comments on: Porn sneaks past search filters

Search companies are increasingly turning to censorware to court G-rated customers such as corporations, schools and parents, but they're still showing too much skin.

[ehsensiraj]

Trasparent Image to bypass image analysis

There is another problem with image analysis technique, if you put a transparent image over a porn image. Image analysis softwares wont be able to detect it.

Porn websites can easily embed this technique in their websites with few lines of code.

[MyInternetDoorman]

It's amazing that this article is more than 7 years old and that it's still rattling around.

First, let me start by applauding Google on their work; being in the business of blocking porn and helping folks fighting porn addiction, I can attest to the fact that Google?s ?SafeSearch filtering? feature is one of the best in the industry. Our ability to ?lock it? on makes a huge difference to our client base.

As far as ?the uphill battle to filter pornographic and other sensitive images? goes, I?d suggest that the problem is not with the technology, but with what we are attempting to do - As Albert Einstein said:

?Perfection of means and confusion of goals seem - in my opinion - to characterize our age?

As a former CIO, I can tell you that nothing kills a concept or project faster than striving for perfection. We need to learn to live with ?more than good enough? and bridge the technological gaps with process and education.

I?m not saying that we abandon all hope, but rather that our goal should be to provide a reasonably safe surfing environment for our children and ourselves, as Google has done, while we continue to incrementally improve on it.

Stop arguing about whether or not pornography, gambling, hate, weapons or any of the other sites are inherently bad; stop arguing about the fact that things are not perfect. Instead, help empower parents, guardians and teachers with the tools they need to protect our children from exposure to said material while giving them the ability to take advantage of all the benefits the internet offers.

Once again, I applaud Google for their continuous improvement, but in the end, we must all take responsibility for ourselves and our families.

Sincerely,
Carlos A. Mendoza
Founder, My Internet Doorman

www.myinternetdoorman.org
www.myinternetdoorman.com

[GeraldFnord]

Parents should have the ability to control the images reaching their children's brains, and I think pornography-as-it-is is bad for children, both because it distorts human sexuality and because it creates a _sameness_ that is disappointing (let them develop their _own_, idosyncratic, less marketable preversions, for Darwin's sake). Parents should also have some say in just how desensitised to or fearful of violence children are---though cutting down on the absurd number of murders on TV every night might be better for this in the case of parents who don't wish their kids so desensitised or scared, as would making real life less violent. (Hint: legalise drugs, make drilling with a well-regulated militia a condition of gun-ownership, stop glorifying violence done by The Good Guys.)

As an added benefit: once filters become really good at determining what's porn and what isn't, down to specific genres, those of us old enough to be notionally responsible could use their complements when pornography were what we wanted---sometimes, I want to filter out all the 'Safe' content, though at the same time I'd still like to give the overwhelming majority of the 'unsafe' the boot as well.