Yahoo Italia Doesn’t Like Preteens
This is a weird one: Search on Yahoo Italia (yahoo.it) for “preteen” and your search type is switched to Directory (with zero results), and you just aren’t permitted to complete your search. No problem on U.S. Yahoo Search. So, is it a weird bug (and an inconvenience for Italian pedophiles) or is there some sort of Italian law I’m not aware of?
It also happens on searches for “shit” and “shithead” but not “bullshit“, “shit for brains” or “fuck“. The behavior also fails if the first letter is capitalized.
Wow, it feels weird to have curses on this blog. So out of character for me. At least they aren’t my words.
This was discovered by Jacopo Gonzales, who writes about it in his Italian language blog, complete with screenshots.
Come on Nathan, you could have striked out the curse words, everyone would have still understood what you meant.
Btw, I’m moving to NY in the next two weeks. Perhaps one day I’ll be able to give you a hand shake.
Comment by or | May 10, 2006
[…] Leo en InsideGoogle, que a su vez toma fuente de Jacopo Gonzales (con screenshots), que Yahoo! Italia ha comenzado a redirigir las búsquedas de algunos términos al directorio en vez de a los resultados de búsqueda. En concreto ‘preteens‘, ‘shit‘, ‘shithead‘ y algunas palabras más del estilo. […]
Pingback by Alex Vega » Blog Archive » Censura en Yahoo! Italia | May 10, 2006
OR: Let me know when you’re in town. I suggest going to next month’s New York Tech Meetup (sign up before it fills up).
I’m not big on using profanity, but I’m also big on being honest. If you are talking about a “dirty word”, just say it. It has no power, it’s just a small word. If my article talks about the word “fuck”, I’ll write “fuck”, because having it appear isn’t a problem to me. I don’t go around saying “fuck this” and “fuck that”, but if I’m writing about it, I’ll use it. Striking it out shows fear, as far as I’m concerned.
Comment by Nathan Weinberg | May 10, 2006
It’s case-sensitive generally, any uppercase letter will bypass the ban.
I suspect it’s a bug with something like a SafeSearch wordlist
Yahoo Italy Keyword Search Problem - Censorship Or Bug?
Comment by Seth Finkelstein | May 11, 2006
Nathan has no fear to be honest. U have rightly cursed them. How could it be possible to not let complete the search work. Its really a weird bug!
Comment by dave | May 11, 2006