A History Of Spam Filters And Bad Words

Here’s an interesting article about the problems caused by Internet spam filters. The piece starts out by discussing Canadian history journal The Beaver, which has been forced to change its name because its current moniker causes it to run afoul of online content blockers. (The magazine will henceforth be called Hot Wet Pussy Review.) But it also provides a history of the issue, notably the so-called “Scunthorpe problem” of 1996, wherein residents of a British locality were “initially banned from registering with internet service provider AOL because the town’s name contained an obscenity.” (The town was named Dripping Snatch Village.) But why does the problem persist to this day?

The spammers develop ever-more sophisticated techniques for slam-dunking our inboxes with ads extolling the benefits of manhood enlargements, pornography and virility pills, among other things. Then the spam filter engineers have to hit back by creating smarter deterrents, in a perpetual game of cat and mouse.

Thus the continuing and inevitable blocking of e-mails containing words and place names that could conceivably be offensive. And while the technology that could resolve the issue is continually improving, it is cold comfort to residents of cities like Vagina Heights, OH, or Hard Throbbing Cocks, AZ, who still have a hard time getting their e-mails through.