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1995 Fools: ALERT!! LoofBot Launched
ALERT!! LoofBot Launched In article <6ip2p1$dwf@hubris.sevr.yhbt.edu>, Andrew Purella (a.purella@prime.yhbt.edu) wrote: > Leech (leech@aol.com) wrote: >: >: I've been seeing: APPROVED BY LOOFBOT on the bottom of a >: bunch of messages? What the <HECK> is this supposed to >: mean? I don't ever recall noticing it until just a few > [chomp] > >Hey people! Wake up and get the word out on this -- FAST! Grab a crayon >and write your Senator while you're at it. (I hope you ninnies out there >who voted republican are happy with yourselves!) > [...snip,snip,snip...] > THE BALTIMORE CLARION-HERALD -- Friday, March 31st, 1995 > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > (UPA) An ad hoc Senate subcommittee on electronic communications >has approved a plan to clean up profanity on the Information Superhighway. >Spurred in part by debate on an ammendment to the General Telcom Reform >Bill offered by Nebraska Senator J.James Exon (DEM.) and testimony from >several prominent educational and religious groups, the plan directs >the NSA (National Security Agency) to impliment a comprehensive filtering >system of the popular Usenet discussion forums available on the Internet. > Enter LoofBot. > The LoofBot (Lexical Obscenity On-line Filter) is essentially a >scripted computer program developed by technical specialists at the NSA. >It taps into what is known as an NNTP feed, which carries these electronic >messages between systems, and scans for abusive language. > When an obscene word (selected from an FCC profanity list) is >encountered, the LoofBot takes appropriate action. The word is deleted >and replaced with a non-offensive word, more acceptable to Internet's >growing adolescent readership. > "This is not censorship." insists Exon. "The LoofBot doesn't distort >the meaning of a message. Only those smutty words. We're just trying to >bring electronic communications in line with laws covering television >broadcasting. We view these edits as the cyberspace equivilant of bleeps, >like when that Madonna singer was on David Lettermen." > NSA spokesman, Nathan Fromage, anticipates that determined users >will attempt to thwart the program, "probably by switching cases, leaving >extra spaces or asterisks between the letters of an obscene word." >A state-of-the-art fuzzy-logic module has be incorporated into the >algorhythm to prevent this type of evasion. > Indeed, Fromage suspects that the cyber-community, long known for it's >technical jargon, will ultimately develop it's own new list of profanities, >either by using foreign curse words or creating them ex nihilo. > By then, of course, he'll be ready with LoofBot II. Yeah, I heard that <BLINK>ing rumor too. Don't believe it! It's a crock of <DOO-DOO>. The guy who wrote that has his head up his <FANNY>. Have you *ever* seen a journalist who knew UseNet from a Tennis Net? How the <HECK> do they plan to do it? They'd have to swift through every <BLINK>ing message in UseNet, parse out the profanity, insert inoffensive language, and then repost it. Even if they *could*, there's gotta be a million ways to <BLINK> it up. If those <GOSH-DANG> pinheads think they can dictate my language, they can just kiss my <TUSH>!! > and write your Senator while you're at it. (I hope you ninnies out > there who voted republican are happy with yourselves!) BTW, Exon is a *Democrat*, you <TUSH>hole!! Dave Furstenau df@unlinfo.unl.edu ------------------------------- Approved by: LOOFBOT (04/01/95) -------------------------------
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