Symantec Says No To Pro-Gun Sites 1716
cluge writes "A recent American Rifleman contained small column that said that Symantec's new Internet Security 2004 would block pro gun rights sites (i.e. NRA sites), while not blocking similar anti-gun rights web sites. Being the eternal skeptic, this claim was tested by downloading the trial version and running some tests against it. To my surprise I found the every NRA site was blocked and was in the category 'weapons.' This even included the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action. Some sites that were not blocked were notable anti-gun rights sites such as The Brady Campaign, and Good Bye Guns. The only anti-gun rights site that was blocked that I could find was Hand Gun Control's web site." Read on for more.
cluge continues: "My rather informal test still raises the spectre that a large corporate entity may be clandestinely trying to sway you or your child's political views by censoring content from one side of a political debate. This is indeed chilling, especially considering that such software is required to be used in libraries to protect children. Is this political slant common in censorware? Have slashdotters found similar glitches in other 'parental control' software?"
Slashdot has certainly covered censorware before, but reports like this are still valuable as the world evolves.
Whoever is responsible (Score:5, Funny)
Oh shit... (Score:5, Funny)
Obligatory... (Score:3, Funny)
Disclaimer: I am an avid shooter and a member of the NRA.
Re:Hypocrites. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Hypocrites. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Can We Say Liberals? (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Can We Say Liberals? (Score:2, Funny)
The next version of Winfax... (Score:1, Funny)
Re:ACLU to help out? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Oh shit... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Eddie Izzard. (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Hypocrites. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Hypocrites. (Score:2, Funny)
"Well, this man likes to insert large things into his pooper, so he has stretched it a little. Now, he's so proud of how wide it is, that he wants to show it to everybody on the internet."
That wasn't too hard, was it?
Thread summed up. (Top Ten List) (Score:5, Funny)
2. A Few retorts saying that even though Symantec is private, their software is being used in libraries, thereby censoring or applying their views to government funded institutions that are supposed to be neutral.
3. Huge flamewar about how gun control is good or bad.
4. People bitching about the ACLU and whether or not it will defend second ammendment rights and if it's a second ammendment issue or a first ammendement issue.
5. Nobody talking about how they could use a gun to go hunting and get food.
6. I hate Sementec / I love Symantec flamewar, what's the best firewall?.
7. Conservative Bashing / Liberal Bashing / George Bush = Adolf Hitler posts.
8. Are you still reading this list?
9. A LOT of posts about how the US sucks and the Euros and Japanese are doing everyting right with guns, crime, patents, and any other government regulation issues.
10. I have no sig, so I thought I'd make number 10 some kind of question on how to make a recursive post sig. How would it be done?
Re:Hypocrites. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Hypocrites. (Score:3, Funny)
You know, that some where some CEO will read this
and think "hey, no viruses and no games? Sounds like
it would increase productivity".....
Re:Hypocrites. (Score:2, Funny)
The issue at hand is not pornography, it is political speech. Should your post be blocked because it discusses pornography? Block porn, block sites promoting gun violence. Do not block sites discussing these issues as politics. Especially to not block sites concerning one side of the issue and not the other.
Re:Hypocrites. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Hmm (Score:2, Funny)
Re:as a sysadmin ... (Score:3, Funny)
If your site is anything like the site I admin, I agree. The gun nuts look at NRA/gun related sites and the "normal non-gun nut" people surf porn.