June 13th, 2009
Google could take a lesson from Bing on porn
There…I’ve said it. I’m filled with self-loathing for saying it, but Bing’s new approach (and the speed with which they rolled it out) is a model for easy avenues to block objectionable content. How many schools/libraries block the entire images.google.com domain because their content filtering isn’t sophisticated enough to keep kids from seeing thumbnails they really shouldn’t see? Bing, on the other hand, now makes it a no-brainer to keep this content out of their search engine, regardless of the security settings.
As pointed out on CNet and the Bing Blog,
irst, potentially explicit images and video content will now be coming from a separate single domain, explicit.bing.net. This is invisible to the end customer, but allows for filtering of that content by domain which makes it much easier for customers at all levels to block this content regardless of what the SafeSearch settings might be…
…In addition, we will begin returning source url information in the query string for images and video content so that companies who already use this method of filtering will be able to catch explicit content on Bing along with everything else they are already blocking for their customers.
You don’t get much easier than that. Block explicit.bing.net and keep doing what you’re doing blocking adult websites. It’s a no-brainer. Sure, some content filters handle Google’s thumbnails well, but the average content filter included with a home router or present in many schools simply isn’t that sophisticated.
Don’t get me wrong: I’m not going to be blocking Google and making my users (or my kids) use Bing anytime soon. I’m a big ol’ Google fan and I think it’s an important tool to teach kids to use responsibly and well. We’re inches from rolling out Google Apps for Education in our district, so the GOOG isn’t going anywhere. However, this utterly straight-forward approach to making Bing kid/teacher/parent/school/library-friendly is a welcome bit of no-nonsense, fix-the-customer’s-problems goodness from a company not that well-known for fixing customer problems in a timely manner.
Follow Chris Dawson on Twitter! Christopher Dawson is the technology director for the Athol-Royalston School District in northern Massachusetts and a member of the Internet Press Guild. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations, but always keep in mind that the opinions expressed here are his own and not those of his daytime employer, even if he talks incessantly about his day job.
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