[Tech] Problemi coi filtri anti-porno di Google

Secondo News.com molti siti Internet totalmente "innocenti" ma contenenti accidentalmente nell'URL delle sottostringhe come "sex", "girls" o "porn" rischiano seriamente di venire esclusi dai risultati delle ricerche.



Il problema sarebbe legato alla funzionalità (molto poco... funzionale, a quanto pare) SafeSearch di Google:

PartsExpress.com proudly touts itself as the Net's No. 1 source for audio, video and speaker components--but online shoppers who rely on an optional feature in the Google search engine to block porn sites would never know it.



By an accident of spelling, the Ohio electronics retailer's domain name includes an unfortunate string of letters, "sex," which is enough to block the Web site from Google's filtered results.



PartsExpress.com is not alone. A CNET News.com investigation shows that Google's SafeSearch filter technology incorrectly blocks many innocuous Web sites based solely on strings of letters such as "sex," "girls" or "porn" embedded in their domain names.



Google's SafeSearch flaws are more than academic--they can have serious consequences for innocent Web site operators blocked out by them. Google is the most widely used search engine on the Web, and failure to appear in its listings can have a direct impact on sales for some companies, particularly smaller enterprises with limited marketing budgets.



Research company WebSideStory reported last month that Google claimed an all-time high in search referrals, 41 percent of the United States total, and the search giant's market share is steadily expanding.



"Traffic from Google can make or break a business," said Maria Medina, whose family-run clothing business at ALittleGirlsBoutique.com doesn't pass the SafeSearch censor. "Here I am, a mom of four children, creating an at-home business that sells little girl dresses and accessories, in order to spend more time with my children, and I have been filtered out as not being family friendly. Ridiculous."

Fonte: News.com.