Websense Microsoft, and Marijuana

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/04/ms_websense_hash/

Microsoft's software download site was briefly categorised as a marijuana-related site and blocked by censorware outfit Websense on Monday. Websense blamed human error for the slip-up (or should that be splif-up), which it was able to quickly correct.

Note this was admitted by Websense (taking the news report as true, which seems justified given the screenshot).

[Hmm, a while back, Websense was in the news for "free sex". Now it's "drugs". When do we get "rock and roll"?]

This is an interesting incident, because it helps show that for all the mystification of censorware as "technology", it's basically someone sitting in a room making up a blacklist. A slip of the fingers, and Microsoft is marijuana.

Seth Finkelstein's Infothought blog (Wikipedia, Google, censorware, and an inside view of net-politics) - Syndicate site (subscribe, RSS)