Some buzz around the web regarding Ask’s filtering of terms like “pedophilia“, which returns no results, instead informing you “This query does not comply with Ask.com Terms of Service.”
Such a response certainly gives me pause (why can’t I research any topic I want, even if it’s unsavory?), so I asked CEO Jim Lanzone about it, and he assured me it was an overzealous adult content filtering problem, and it will be resolved this week. It does raise the issue, however, of what is being filtered, and how, and how much we know about it. That merits more discussion.