Try get new spam filter!

Whether we like it or not we should be aware that playing popular these day computer games might put us on clear shot of spam. Why? Because today games played in and on internet browser are getting more and more popular. Spam in this kind of games can be about some new product, another game or special event. Are we interested in that? Not really but if we want to play for free than we need stand that. Developers of the game needs to earn money on advertisement so they could be working on another product. I heard that if we want to get rid of this spam ads we need to install some special application called web filter. Unfortunately there is no possibility to deal with this problem as we do with spam getting in to our mailboxes. We can’t simply install spam filter and customize all the options to maximize the effect filtering. Here rule is simple – you want to play? you need to watch. Of course no one can force us to read displayed ads, and most of us are just closing them as soon as they occur.  If there is no closing cross on the ad then you can place complain that this ads does not work with international rules about online ads. I used a special url filter to block all the ads but how to do so,  you would need to find on the internet by yourself.

For most of us when we hear about dealing something that we know very little about it seem hard and almost impossible to do. That is how people reacts when they hear about spam. First of all they should know what spam is right? Not in twenty first century. We live in an age where there is no necessity of knowing the problem to solve the problem. Why? Because we have tools for that. Such tool for example can be an anti-spam program designed to defend against that term that we don’t know what does it mean. This tool is called spam filter and works like every other filter on the world. It’s main goal is to separated messages that have some value for us from those which don’t represent anything else than potential treat. Properly configured filter might give really good results, because almost ninety seven percent of unwanted messages might be recognized and sent directly to the bin. There are more filters available on the market and some of them like web filter might give pretty good results. Url filter is designed to filter whole content of the internet as we browse it and block sites which are on his black list. We need to pay attention only a little while we are using it, because we don’t want to block popular and safe webpages, that we use daily.

Commonly, people consider Url filtering as a tool with sole strengths. Reminding all its advantages, the often forget about the weaknesses. Weaknesses that sometimes are funny, sometimes strange, but after all, usually pretty irritating. To understand the phenomenon of over-zealous blocking, one should get back to the mechanism of a Web filter . Looking for predetermined phrases, the application denies an access to chosen websites. What happens when the technique fails? For example, the Scunthorpe problem. Scunthorpe, Penistone, Lightwater, Sussex, Clitheroe, then specialist, Callahan, Libshitz, Whakatane, Beaver College… This list has no ending. All mentioned names have one thing in common – a hidden ‘dirty word’. Cunt, penis, twat, sex – all these are the words commonly blocked by most content filters. In fact, Web filtering software doesn’t see the difference whether it’s sole vulgarism or a part of geographical name or surname. As it seems explicit, it should be blocked. It’s the first example of over-zealous filtering. Next, ‘magna cum laude’ means “with great honor” and have nothing in common with cum. Finally, there’s also a great sprinter. His name’s Tyson Gay. No one knows, whether he’s happy while helpful filters change his name to Tyson Homosexual.

Web filtering is thought to be a remedy for today’s Internet problems. In fact, automatic filters might sometimes cause a lot of mess. The situation when a Web filter starts to ‘live its own life’ is called Scunthorpe problem. Mix automation with tons of rubbish called ‘political correctness’ and enjoy the results. According to over-zealous filters, there were a lot funny and, then, irritating situations occurred. For usual person, ‘Scunthorpe’ seems to be a typical name of city located in England. Unfortunately, web filters do not care about geography. They saw only ‘cunt’ as a part of the name Scunthorpe. And this ‘cunt’ was enough to block all e-mail addresses registration tries, websites and texts containing the name of the city. Funny? Not yet. There is also Penistone in South Yorkshire, Lightwater in Surrey and Clitheroe in the UK. Shame on these names. Moreover, Beaver College from Pennsylvania was forced to change its name to Arcadia University because filters didn’t like ‘beaver’ as a part of the name. Even though, the funniest thing happened to one of the greatest sprinters of our times. It once again proved how moronic political correctness is. His name, Gay, was unacceptable for Url filtering , due to negative undertone of ‘gay’. As a result, for the best sprinter achievements, Tyson Homosexual was rewarded. It’s just curious!

Web filtering is thought to be the solution to make Internet more friendly. In fact, using a web filter significantly facilitates work as it simplifies avoiding opening unwanted websites. Furthermore, it’s the best method for protecting personal computer. It blocks all the pop-up windows, infected websites and impudent advertising. These all seem to be a remedy for Internet’s problems. In fact, Url filtering isn’t as white as it seem to be. It should be remembered that filters block concrete websites according to occurrence of predetermined phrases or using special lists. While the first method is objectively uninfluenced, the second one depends one people who create such lists. What criteria decide of adding each website to ‘forbidden list’? Are these criteria objective and constant? And is there a possibility of adding a website omitting criteria scheme? Yes, people should consider that not all the blocked websites really deserve blocking and – on the other hand – a lot of unblocked websites should get blocked immediately. If considering selective filtering, ‘the Great Firewall of China’ case shouldn’t be omitted as it’s the brightest example of Internet censorship. Thereupon, people should think twice before they blindly trust web filters.