Web Filters Protect Children from Knives

Joined
Oct 3, 1998
Messages
3,264
Here's a link to a thread over in the "main" forum:
http://www.bladeforums.com/ubb/Forum54/HTML/000065.html

It seems that knife forums, knife manufacturers, and knife dealers fall under the same heading, in at least some internet nanny programs, as the places where kids go to learn how to make pipe bombs.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!

I followed the link there to one filter's database lookup, and found, among other things, that these forums would be blocked by any direction to block "Weapons" sites. Buck Knives is classified as "Weapons," but CRKT is "Shopping." Lamson Knives, a company that makes nothing but kitchen knives (www.lamsonsharp.com) is "Weapons."

But my eccentric sharp objects site is "Travel." Go figure.



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- JKM
www.chaicutlery.com
AKTI Member # SA00001
 
Not a clue on this one Jim.

I did forward this link to our marketing manager to see if we can impact this in any way.

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CJ Buck
Buck Knives, Inc.
AKTI Member #PR00003


 
The WebSENSE filtering program is sold primarily to employers to keep their people working and not shopping or gambling or oggling on their office computers.

SurfWatch, aimed at the home market, blocks virtually all knife pages, including Buck, Lamson kitchen knives, Leatherman tools, and of course my relentlessly wholesome page. I've posted the e-mail I just sent to sites@surfwatch.com over in the other thread.

It's still OK for children to surf to General Motors automobiles or Estwing hammers and axes.

Aaaaarrrggghhhh
mad.gif


Maybe other knife manufacturers, dealers, and custom makers who have non-bloodthirsty web pages should also complain to SurfWatch. I also sent a copy of my complaint to the ACLU, which is studying web filtering services closely, especially as they are used in public libraries and such.

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- JKM
www.chaicutlery.com
AKTI Member # SA00001


[This message has been edited by James Mattis (edited 03-28-2000).]
 
Is the spyderco webpage blocked out? Its got a lot of educational stuff on it and the knives are all protrayed as knives not weapons. They even list the attributes that make each knife good for different types of use. And they explain that serrated edges are not to look wicked, but are for cutting more aggressively in fibrous materials and things like that. It would probably do a lot of people some good to sit down and look through a site like that. It would be pretty dumb for it to be blocked.But thats the governments idea of protecting our children for you
rolleyes.gif


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Fix it right the first time, use Baling Wire !
 
SurfWatch isn't government. It's a private company that offers a private "filtering" service to people who don't want their kids going to bad neighborhoods on the Net. It and other "software solutions" are often cited as reasons why government Net censorship is not necessary.

But it seems that a private "filtering" service can be as ham-handed as government censors in other places, and the line between government censorship and private "filtering" can blur when a public library or educational institution buys their service.

Here's the ACLU's report on Internet "filtering" services: http://www.aclu.org/issues/cyber/box.html


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- JKM
www.chaicutlery.com
AKTI Member # SA00001
 
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