GOOGLE IS WATCHING

 

GOOGLE IS WATCHING

 

It has been a few months since my last post.  I used to post almost every day.  Every day for 13 years, almost 4000 posts.  Now some of my posts may have been political, clearly a forbitten subject today, especially if you favored the wrong politic.  Many of my early posts contained “bad” words.  I assume, that by virtue of having an opinion I offended some folks, but never did I receive an admonition from GOOGLE.

Until today.  Today, after not posting for three months I received a GOOGLE wrist slap.

WTF?

I was sent an email which advised the following:

Your post titled "HEADLINES 123111" has been put behind a warning for readers

Your post titled "HEADLINES 123111" was flagged to us for review. This post was put behind a warning for readers because it contains sensitive content; the post is visible at http://joeh-crankyoldman.blogspot.com/2012/01/headlines-123111.html. Your blog readers must acknowledge the warning before being able to read the post/blog.

GOOGLE has suddenly decided readers must be warned about one of my posts submitted 12 years ago.

I used to submit weekly a “Stupid Headlines” post.  I would scour the news for strangely worded headlines and then add a clever comment to the headline.  These “Stupid Headlines” posts were never all that well received, but they used to crack me up even if no one else seemed to find them humorous.

Anyway, what could I have said the it took GOOGLE 12 years to find that it was objectionable and needed a warning?

Apparently GOOGLE must have recently run all their blogs from the beginning of the world through a program with some kind of algorithms that catch offensive material.   I guess that is part of the AI (Artificial Intelligence) issue that is in the news and has smart people worried.

Of course I had to go back in time and read this GOOGLE warned post to see what I wrote that was so scary.

There was this:

Same-sex families pay thousands of dollars more in taxes- Gay community asserts the higher taxes are worth it to not have to live with the opposite sex.

It does mention sex, but is that offensive?  Do you need to be warned before reading? Maybe “WARNING, ONLY CRANKY OLD MEN WILL FIND THIS TO BE FUNNY”.  Anyway, this could not be it.

Maybe it was:

Man Dials 911, Lodges Complaint About Hookers – Claims he wasn’t screwed.

It does mention hookers and screwed, but…really?

Maybe it was this one:

Obesity linked to older adults' risk of falls- Researchers also find a link between obesity and overeating, obesity and stains on ties, obesity and large pant size and obesity and flatulence.

Can you no longer even mention fat people? IS that fat shaming? Can’t be, could it?

How about this one:

Egyptian Court Bans Military 'Virginity Tests' on Female Detainees – Egyptian Military no longer able to ask female detainees, “Do you know what a virgin is?”

Is “virgin” wrong? Is this demeaning to woman? I thought it was funny.

Then Mrs. C found the headline that proves that artificial intelligence can be dangerous:

Porn Film Condom Proposal Qualifies for Los Angeles Ballot, But City Objects – Four out of five doctors claim that condoms on porn films will have little effect in preventing venereal diseases, but may prevent little baby porn films.

I thought it was funny.  Instead of the actors required to use condoms I read it as putting condoms on the actual film which would prevent little baby porn films.

Once again, I thought this was funny.  Apparently, I was the only one that thought this headline play on words was funny, but clearly not offensive or perverted…until

Mrs. C figured,

“Perhaps just the term ‘little baby porn films’ was interpreted as BABY porn, not little baby films prevented by putting condoms on the actual film. (Stupid, but harmless…and yes once again I thought it was funny.)

So, there you have it. GOOGLE is out to save you from A Cranky Old Man’s very bad sense of humor.

You have been warned.

I assume I will receive another email based on the content of this post.

Sigh….