Scunthorpe Problem

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Scunthorpe Problem occurs when a spam filter or search engine accidentally blocks e-mails or search results due to the inclusion of a string of letters in the text which is mistaken for an obscene word.

1 Origin and history
2 Other examples
3 See also
4 References

[edit] Origin and history

Public library computers may prevent web searches on the Russian ice dancer Irina Slutskaya due to the Scunthorpe Problem.

The problem was named after an incident in 1996 in which America Online's dirty-word filter prevented residents from the town of Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, England from creating accounts with AOL, due to the town's name containing the substring cunt. Google's filters apparently made the same mistake, even when residents searched for local businesses with Scunthorpe in the name. Residents of Penistone, South Yorkshire, experienced problems due to the town's inclusion of the substring penis, while Lightwater in Surrey caused a similar issue due to the substring twat.^[1]

Pornography-filtering programs intended to protect children may fail to discriminate between sites that have sex in their titles because they carry explicit content and those like RomansInSussex.co.uk ^[2], which is an educational site about the history of Sussex. A pest control business like ArkansasExtermination.com ^[3] could be blocked in this way.

Problems can also occur with the words socialism or socialist because they contain the substring Cialis, the brand name for an erectile dysfunction medication commonly advertised in spam e-mails. A similar problem can occur with the word specialist, typically blocking mailed résumés and other material including job descriptions.^[4]

Computers in public libraries are usually filtered to prevent users from accessing inappropriate material, but can fall victim to the Scunthorpe Problem. A web search on the name of the Russian ice dancer Irina Slutskaya may be blocked, since it includes the substring slut.

[edit] Other examples

The Scunthorpe Problem may also prevent searches on the footballer Nwankwo Kanu.

Mistaken decisions by obscenity filters include:

In April 1998 Jeff Gold attempted to register the domain name shitakemushrooms.com, but was blocked by a InterNIC filter prohibiting the "seven dirty words" which was active between 1996 and the transfer of control to ICANN.^[5]

In February 2006 Linda Callahan, a resident of Ashfield, Massachusetts was initially prevented from registering her name with Yahoo! as an e-mail address as it contained the substring Allah. Yahoo! later reversed the ban.^[6]

In October 2004, it was reported that the Horniman Museum in London was failing to receive some of its e-mail due to filters mistakenly deciding that its name was a version of the words horny man.^[7]^[8]

In February 2004, Craig Cockburn of Scotland reported that he was unable to use his surname (pronounced "Coburn") with Hotmail, Yahoo! or his workplace computers. He discovered that his e-mails would be delivered if he spelled his name C0ckburn (with a zero instead of the letter "o").^[9]

Web searches on the Nigerian-born footballer Nwankwo Kanu may be blocked due the substring wank in his name.

Additionally there can be cases of whole word filtering, showing that computer obscenity filters may fail to take into account the context in which a word appears:

In May 2006 Ray Kennedy from Manchester in the UK found that e-mails that he had written to his local council to complain about a planning application had been blocked as they contained the word erection when referring to a structure.^[10]

In October 2004, e-mails advertising the pantomime Dick Whittington sent by a teacher from Norwich in the UK were blocked by school computers due to the use of the word Dick.^[11]

In February 2003 Members of Parliament at the British House of Commons found that a new spam filter was blocking e-mails containing references to the Sexual Offences Bill then under debate, as well as some messages relating to a discussion about censorship.^[12]