New Jersey's 'sexy' counties (fwd)

[Ray Arachelian <sunder@brainlink.com>]

Subject: New Jersey's 'sexy' counties

Internet censors blocking Jersey's 'sexy' counties 
By Jeff May
Newark Star-Ledger
July 1, 1997 

With its tractor pulls, pig and poultry exhibitions, and demolition
derbies, the Sussex County Fair is almost a parody of wholesome fun. 

But to some programs that parents use to block pornographic material
on the Internet, the Web site for "New Jersey's Best Fair" might as well
be a pit of sin. 

The problem: Sussex contains the word "sex." To a computer
searching for smut, that's all that's needed to raise a red flag. 

Most filtering programs rely on key words, and sex is at the top of the
forbidden list. Children who try to log on to the Sussex fair site might
as well be trying to dial up Playboy online. 

Essex and Middlesex counties have the same problem. The free
program that America Online provides for its subscribers, for example,
blocks online access to both Essex County College and the Essex
County Clerk's Office. 

"We're as G-rated as a Disney movie," protested Patrick McNally, the
county clerk. 

Passport information and property tax tips hardly make for racy
subject matter, and McNally said he was "somewhat amused" that it
would be considered as such. Web surfers apparently agree: Since the
site was created earlier this year, only 2,958 people have visited it. 

"Probably 2,900 are me," McNally said. 

But McNally said he understood the impulse to use parental control
programs, which are expected to become more popular in the wake of
the Supreme Court's decision to strike down government control of
indecent material on the Internet. 

"As a father, I certainly don't want my children to stumble across
something they shouldn't on the Net," he said. "I could see where it
would be a problem." 

Most problems with the screening devices occur when parents rely on
the broadest keywords possible, said Gordon Ross, president and
CEO of Net Nanny, one of several programs on the market to screen
out objectionable content. They usually disappear as users become
more knowledgeable about the system. 

"Unfortunately, some people don't read the manuals," he said. 

Parents may not need to by 2000. Advances in artificial intelligence are
expected to make the cybercensors a lot more discriminating, Ross said.

"A lot of the decisions will be made by the computer itself," he said. 

Some companies say they've already reached that point. A spokesman
for Surfwatch, Jay Friedland, says the popular program uses "pattern
matching" to weed out references to sex but not acceptable ones such
as the poet Anne Sexton. 

"The key focus for us is real simplicity," Friedland said. "Even if we
were overblocking accidentally, it is very easy to turn off." 

But most e-mail requests to the company ask for advice about blocking
sites, not unblocking them, he said. 

"It's about 100 to one," he said. 

For now, sponsors of the Sussex County Fair aren't overly concerned
about children being unable to scroll through the festival's web site. The
site is a little more than a year old, but the fair doesn't rely on it for
promotions, said spokeswoman Kathleen Cafasso. 

Dropping the web site address's reference to Sussex which, like the
similar county names, is derived from the Saxons of old England isn't
an option, Cafasso said. 

"We wouldn't even consider it," she said. "It's not worth the lack of
identification."