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DFN Announces "Foil the Filters" Contest

------- Forwarded message follows ------- Date sent: Thu, 7 Sep 2000 15:32:30 -0400 From: "Bobson Wong" <bwong@dfn.org> Subject: DFN Announces "Foil the Filters" Contest To: <gilc-plan@gilc.org> Send reply to: gilc-plan@gilc.org

DIGITAL FREEDOM NETWORK MEDIA RELEASE: For immediate release Contact: Bobson Wong (1-201-928-4378, bwong@dfn.org) or Alan Brown (1-201-928-4365, abrown@dfn.org)

DIGITAL FREEDOM NETWORK ANNOUNCES "FOIL THE FILTERS" CONTEST Contest Challenges Net Users Worldwide to Find Flaws in Filtering Software

NEWARK, N.J., September 7, 2000 - The Digital Freedom Network's "Foil The Filters" contest is under way, and entrants are encouraged to search high and low - sometimes very low - to trip up Internet censorware.

"The purpose of the contest is to have a little more fun with something whose greatest accomplishment is as an object of ridicule. It's the Corvair of programming," said DFN Internet Development Director Alan Brown of censorware. Different types of filtering software are used across the Internet in attempts to regulate content, but its failure is typical and often hilarious.

"Filtering software is a poor substitute for human judgment. Fortunately, totalitarian governments like China's haven't figured that out yet," said DFN Executive Director Bobson Wong.

DFN was alerted to one instance where a person's online comments were blocked because of the phrase "who reports." Censorware was to blame: it had detected the word "whore" in the first letters and blocked the transmission.

This contest, open to all, encourages Web surfers to take to the Internet and test sites, chat communities, and bulletin boards to uncover the most ridiculous examples of censorware failure. DFN is looking for examples both of phrases (including names) which pass through filtering software but shouldn't and of phrases which the filtering software would like to stop but can't.

Sherril Babcock's case is a classic example. One Web site's filtering software prevented the Los Angeles attorney from entering the site last month with her real name because it detected the word "cock"; but the censorware did nothing when she successfully registered as "Babpenis" days later.

"Foil the Filters" entries can either be e-mailed to contest@dfn.org or submitted via a Web form at http://dfn.org/Alerts/censorware.htm . The contest ends September 25, 2000.

Memorable entries will be posted on the DFN Web site and winners will be awarded prizes, including souvenirs from towns with names banned by blocking software, like Scunthorpe, and works by censorware-banned writers, including Emily Dickinson and e.e. cummings. Many censorship snafus will be posted on the DFN Web site as the contest progresses, with winners announced during Banned Books Week at the end of September.

The Digital Freedom Network (DFN) promotes human rights around the world by developing new methods of activism with Internet technology and by providing an online voice to those attacked simply for expressing themselves. DFN creates Internet applications to fight censorship, acquires technology tools for other activists, launches Internet-based campaigns on behalf of human rights, and serves as a technical resource for activists worldwide. DFN's Web site is http://dfn.org.

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