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Boing Boing Blocker: Current TV Video On How Google's SmartFilter Is Blocking The World's Most Popular Blog
Al Gore's Current TV venture has been broadcasting since August and is gradually finding a feel and a focus. They still don't have much of a cable or satellite distribution network. But they are actually producing some good content.
When launched, Current TV was explained as a new television network with the interactivity of the Internet. The idea? Get some cheap digital cameras, easy-to-use laptop-based editing tools and a media platform and give them to young people to televise their "lives" (at least how they view it) to document what happens to them in ways that we don't see on CNN and the broadcast networks.
Most viewers of Current TV (or are they called "current viewers"?) actually use the webisodes and web content. They encourage voting of the top VC2 videos, attract smart advertisers (such as the 2-minute American Express commerical directed and starring M. Night Shyamalan (Sixth Sense, etc.), host social communities, posted viewed created ads and maintain an active blog covering a wide range of subject matter.
In fact, the web site has a blog-like feel in its style and content. Something like BoingBoing - the world's most popular blog at the moment, accoerding to measuring service Technorati.
Which makes this blurb I found on BoingBoing surreal. A Current TV story about BoingBoing and how it is being blocked in certain countries because of occasional "offensive" matter (Darth Tater, anyone?), which is posted on BoingBoing as a story. So it comes full circle (and helps guarantee people like me find these stories when media trend watching online).
I love "open" blogs with active reader contributers like BoingBoing and Fark.com...it's truly is a place with real personality driven not by corporations but by the people.
One of the backbones in Google searching is something they call "SafeSearch". This is a tool Google installed based on their constant web indexing to help manage potentially "offensive" content (remember, Google says "Do No Evil"). The default when you turn on your computer and log on to Google places the SmartFilter control in moderate mode, which can be activated. However, if you don't control your computer's passwords, you can effectively block websites and content (great for parents trying to prevent accidental porn sightings from the kids).
Which brings us to this Current TV story how the world's most viewed daily blog is now having problems being blocked by Google's SmartFilter/SafeSearch in some select countries (say, China) and even for some regions in the USA.
Here the Current TV video recap reporting the way Google's SmartFilter blocks Web access to the entire populations of certain countries.
posted by Unknown @ Friday, March 10, 2006,
