Patented censorship?

[cdef]

How do you feel about this news?

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sto...2862%2C00.html

Apparently, Microsoft has patented a technology to filter out and replace arbitrary words webwide, and Australia will be the first country to adopt it.

I hope this isn't seen as a political thread, since the concerns are more basic than that.

EDIT: http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/...Submitted=true

[WalterBush]

I don't know, on the surface, the purported use of the software sounds fine, just another tool in a parent's toolbox. It's way too easy for kids to have access to materials that I and other parents consider obscene, and hard enough to get kids to speak properly as it is.

Put that same tool in the hands of any government, especially ones that are known to put no stock in the idea of freedom, and it's another way to silence opposition.

I don't see how this changes anything. Governments interested in oppression will use it to oppress. Governments interested in freedom won't. This just makes oppression more automatic. I bet that some revolutionaries will find a way around it, too.

[Oric]

That's the one great thing about the Internet, there's always a way around...

[cdef]

The way I see it, this gives the patent holder, a large US corporation, ultimate rights and means to control what words can be used in online communication. Sure, code-savvy people may be able to get around it, but not most users, if it's on an ISP level.

Ironically, this is being implemented in the name of, and I quote, "safeguarding online freedom of speech and privacy". That reads like plain Orwellian newspeak to me.