Pakistan bans 1,100 words from text messages

Pakistan bans 1,100 naughty words from text messages (with a little help from the NFL)

Why doesn't this surprise me?

What would FIFA think of this?

 

It's easy to chuckle at this, especially the way it's being tested. However, we should keep in mind that, strange words and tests or not, this at its core is yet another blow to being free and is another attempt at control and censorship. This kind of thing is already happening several parts of the world, and can easily happen in the Western world as well. One simply needs to look at things like SOPA to see how very easy it would be to implement.

 

Yes, jocularity aside, & the realisation that SOPA isn't an acronym for the SCOTTISH ORGANIC PRODUCERS ASSOCIATION, the ramifications of these types of actions on liberties of speech are quite scary when you think about it a bit. It's bad enough when website filters remove relatively innocuous words that wouldn't normally raise an eyebrow. It's worth pointing out that many US sites miss a lot of British English words, that although might not be particularly that rude, would probably have their equivalents filtered in the US. I wonder if I can write pillock, wazzock, yampo or git on this site?

 

AbSopaLutely.

In all seriousness, very good point. Not much can surprise me on this front anymore.