iTunes robo-censor for ‘potentially off words’
p2pnet news view Music:- Did you know Apple’s iTunes has a robot-censor to protect the innocent?
But it’s “left iTunes embarrassed,” says the Guardian.
According iTunes mouthperson Adam Howorth, an asterisk is “imposed by an automated database that checks words against a list but can’t distinguish the context,” says the story, quoting him as stating »»»
We have an automated system which looks for potentially off words and asterisks out certain ones based on the rules, and wop is one of those.
In the context of this music it is an error.
Thus, it censored ‘doo wop’ to ‘doo w*p’,”
But, “A search of iTunes reveals that the asterisk substitution does not apply only to the 1950s genre, but to any track or album that mentions the racial slur wop, including Lauryn Hill and, those famously inflammatory artists, Prefab Sprout,” says the Guardian, adding:
“While the system may go too far in one direction, it also seems to have failings in the other. Honky, a term that mocks white people, derives from honky tonk music, played in American piano bars in the early twentieth century. There are still many tracks, by acts like Jools Holland, the Rolling Stones, James Brown and the Beach Boys with honky tonk in the title. But the word honky, despite being on iTunes banned list, remains uncensored. Howorth isn’t sure why honky has passed censorship when doo wop hasn’t.
“It’s not the first time iTunes has faced criticism for unnecessary censorship. Last year ‘a database glitch’ was deemed responsible for censoring a plethora of artists and titles including Girls Aloud’s Long Hot Summer and Avril Lavinge’s Hot, the problem being ‘hot’ was too, well, h*t to handle.”
Guardian – iTunes censors ‘doo wop’ songs, November 6, 2009
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November 9th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
dfhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhgv
November 9th, 2009 at 10:57 pm
“âWhile the system may go too far in one direction, it also seems to have failings in the other. Honky, a term that mocks white people, derives from honky tonk music, played in American piano bars in the early twentieth century.”
Is the term “honky” even used any more? I think the last time I heard it used in a racial context was while watching on of the Dirty Harry movies…
November 10th, 2009 at 1:47 am
It is too bad that iTune does not have a censor robot censoring all the music parasites corporations stuff out;
too bad, because the quality of iTune content would have increased dramatically as a result.