Microsoft's Bing Refuses Search Term "Sex" In India 355
An anonymous reader writes "Apparently Microsoft is censoring search results for Bing in India and other countries. If you try to search for the term 'sex,' along with lots of variations, from India using Microsoft's new search engine, an error message is returned that says, 'the search sex may return sexually explicit content. To get results, change your search terms.' There's no preference setting or toggle-on-or-off choice; you simply cannot search for the term 'sex' in India if you are using Bing. While a user still can change their country and try the non-Indian version of Bing, this seems like an unnecessary step and unnecessary censorship on the part of Microsoft. Apparently Google has no problem with Indians searching for the term 'sex.'"
But... (Score:3, Insightful)
Big Brother knows what's best for us. Now, sit down, shut up, and consume consume consume, work work work, buy buy buy.
Pointing out the obvious... (Score:4, Insightful)
If their population, and the Kama Sutra, are any indication, the cat is definitely out of the bag! Why Microsoft would choose to limit this information is beyond me...
Tested and confirmed but... (Score:4, Insightful)
allah is gay
gay
nigger
make bombs
bombing building
bme pain olympics
2 girls 1 cup
Re:Duh. (Score:5, Insightful)
Foot, meet gun (Score:5, Insightful)
Congratulations, Microsoft. You have just blocked one of the most popular topics on the internet, forcing people to use an other search engine. Google will love this decision ;-)
In all fairness to Microsoft (Score:5, Insightful)
The Indian government might have demanded it.. stranger things have happened.
Re:Seriously (Score:3, Insightful)
Did the Indian gov't ask Microsoft to block "sex"?
Re:My office mate from India (Score:4, Insightful)
I am from India. It is such a ridiculous statement that no one is gay in India. (I am going ignore his implication that being gay is a "problem")
Just curious, why is it so bad in the US for two men to hold hands in public ?
Re:Traditional newspapers (Score:2, Insightful)
Your argument kinda melted down into vitriol a little at the end there. Easily done when the topic is MS I know!
However, fair points. Corporations care nothing for "good" or "right" - nor do they specifically go out of the way to be "evil". Corporate decision making is based primarily on the profit motive - other considerations are secondary. The decisions that result are ultimately amoral, not necessarily immoral.
Truth is something that a corporation will employ in its statements and publications only so long as there is an estimable return in doing so.
Where we can get away with saying, "Our product is definitely better than all our competitors' products" and the estimable cost of fines, consumer backlash or other bureaucratic costs that might result from blazon lying are significantly less than the estimable profit from gullible rubes buying our product because they thought we must be telling the truth... then we make that statement.
It's not that we the corporation specifically /intend/ harm to consumers. It's simply that we don't ultimately care one way or the other so long as the profit trend from consumer spending on our products is upwards.
Re:My office mate from India (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Duh. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Tested and confirmed but... (Score:5, Insightful)
However you can search for: allah is gay gay nigger make bombs bombing building bme pain olympics 2 girls 1 cup
... And since Microsoft has blocked the things it disapproves of, we can only assume that they're in favour of all of the above, especially the bottom one.
Somebody who isn't a shit-eating, racist, lesbian, terrorist ought to sue the pants off them.
Re:My office mate from India (Score:4, Insightful)
who needs sex education in india (Score:4, Insightful)
its not like its a highly overpopulated, poor country, right?
better to keep indians ignorant of sex, in case they were to learn it might not be a good idea to bring yet another mouth to feed into the world
Very interesting. (Score:3, Insightful)
If they don't like explicit content, then should filter the content, not the searches. I think it is possible to return informative web pages about sex.
Re:Do a search for 'young sex' or 'teen sex' (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Population Control (Score:3, Insightful)
Only when you are extinct, and every human is an Indian, will you know what the point of their reproduction is... Oh, wait...
Re:My office mate from India (Score:5, Insightful)
I found it very healthy, to re-check all your most basic assumptions at most every 10 years. You will be surprised which one have absolutely no scientific base, but were very very deeply connected to every thought of yours.
Absolutely. Don't assume that a hot stove will burn you - you should go right ahead and stick your hand on there every ten years or so, just in case.
Re:and then... it was banned. (Score:1, Insightful)
Yep, and FedEx should be held responsible for delivery of Anthrax ridden packages.
Re:My office mate from India (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:So search for sex,the natural way (Score:3, Insightful)
Hmmmm.... Jingles 121st.
Doesn't really have a good ring to it.
Are you sure about that?
Re:My office mate from India (Score:3, Insightful)
I remember, years ago, when I had a cheap watch from Tijuana that claimed to be "water proof". I was about to wear it into the ocean when my cousin asked me "Are you sure it is water proof? What do you gain by testing it when you don't have to?"... In a similar vein, I don't think anyone will go wrong in assuming an operating stove is hot.
Also along those lines, I saw a thing on a some cable channel show, where a saw blade would instantly stop [sawstop.com] when you put your finger into it. Again, I ask, why would you test that?
I have air bags in my car, I hope not to test them. I am not missing out on the technology of air bags, nor am I sticking my fingers into a "safe" saw blade.
Re:But... (Score:3, Insightful)
Technically, I don't think Big Brother cares if you do the consume part, as long as you still don't slow down on the buy part.
Re:My office mate from India (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:My office mate from India (Score:4, Insightful)
I saw a thing on a some cable channel show, where a saw blade would instantly stop [sawstop.com] when you put your finger into it.
I would very much want to know, and I would test it -- not with a human finger, but with something I wouldn't mind seeing chopped in half. If it fails the test, it goes back to the store. If it's a scam, they get what they deserve -- if it's merely defective, I get one that actually works.
If this is the one they showed on Time Warp then triggering the automatic stop also breaks the machine (all that energy has to go /somewhere/) so it will be going back to the store whether it works or not.
The one you get back will either be a different one or a repaired one, and you would of course have to test to see if the automatic stop still works . . .