As someone who sometimes writes and speaks about repugnant transactions and controversial markets, I'm aware that people may object not only to the things I write about, but also to the fact that I write about them. So I was surprised but not shocked when I got a notice earlier this week that two of my blog posts had been deleted by Google, which runs the site that hosts this blog. And another two were put behind a warning that readers have to acknowledge before being allowed to read them.
The emails had a link at which I could request that the deletions be reviewed, and my two deleted posts were promptly restored. But which posts were deleted, by what I assume was an algorithm?
Here are the subject lines from the two emails about deleted posts (and the now restored posts themselves):
Your post titled "NY Times debate: Is Prostitution Safer when It's Legal?" has been deleted
Sunday, May 20, 2012
and
Your post titled "Legal prostitution and crime in the Netherlands" has been deleted
Thursday, November 9, 2017
So I guess the word "prostitution" plays a role in the decision to delete these two posts, but that can't be the whole story, since I now have about 80 posts that I labeled as concerning prostitution, at least in part. (To put things in perspective, I have well over a thousand posts labeled as concerning 'repugnance'.) Also, the algorithm that deleted them is probably new, since the posts themselves were old but were only deleted and then restored this week.
The two (also old) posts that were put behind an "adult" warning screen also seem to have now been released from this distinction: here are the email headings and posts, which you can once again see without certifying your adult status:
Your post titled "Ethnic dating sites" has been put behind a warning for readers
Friday, September 3, 2010
and
Your post titled "Markets for adult entertainments" has been put behind a warning for readers
Saturday, February 21, 2009
So algorithms searching for inappropriate content (even those employed by the leader in algorithmic search) still fall short of Justice Stewart's famous 1964 declaration about pornography, that it was difficult to define, but "I know it when I see it."
***********
Earlier related post:
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment