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.'"
My office mate from India (Score:5, Interesting)
Seriously (Score:2, Interesting)
Google blocks searches for "Freedom" "Liberty" and other similar terms in China.
You Google fanboys really need to stop drinking the Kool-Aid(TM), Google is no better than Microsoft.
Re:Foot, meet gun (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Seriously (Score:3, Interesting)
China has a very oppressive government; India doesn't, as far as I know. It would be interesting to see whether Bing works at all in China... or if it's "restricted" in China like Google Search is.
However, compare Internet censorship in the People's Republic of China [wikipedia.org] ("new regulations to be enforced by the ministry that inflict fines for 'defaming government agencies,' 'splitting the nation,' and leaking "state secrets."")
and Censorship in India [wikipedia.org], which is also applied to the Internet ("Some media dealing with sex are frequently banned. Films, television shows and music videos are especially prone, however if any literature is banned, it is not usually for pornographic reasons.")
It would also be interesting to know whether Microsoft blocked 'sex' on Bing/India by request. or of its own volition to prevent possible repercussions. The law is enforced more heavily in China than in India, that's for sure.
It's not just India... (Score:5, Interesting)
China
Hong Kong
Indonesia
Malaysia
Thailand
Turkey
And a lot of middle-east places, actually.
A lots of those I can see how this could make some warped sense for religious/political reasons, but can someone clarify why Germany? What makes it special?
Also blocked in South Korea (Score:1, Interesting)
Google has some interesting stats on the term "sex"
http://www.google.com/insights/search/#q=sex&cmpt=q [google.com]
Misspelling gets around it (Score:4, Interesting)
I did a search for:
se x
And got all the results for 'sex'
Re:My office mate from India (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:My office mate from India (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:My office mate from India (Score:3, Interesting)
You're on what might be your only trip through this universe. Don't waste it. ANYTHING might change. Just don't count on it.
Re:My office mate from India (Score:3, Interesting)
Curiosity, and science...
Science is not for pussies! [threepanelsoul.com]
And, as for this one:
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.
Now, I'll reject GP's notion of testing all basic assumptions myself, certainly where it carries significant risk of bodily harm, but mostly because there are simply too many to test all of them.
At the same time, it is that willingness to test things, even when there is significant risk of bodily harm (see Marie Curie), that drives science forward.
Re:My office mate from India (Score:4, Interesting)
Even an induction stove can get pretty hot after use because the heat of the cookware transfers back to the top plate. It can even get so hot that the stove gives an error and shuts down because of overheating.