[Infowarrior] - Google's Nexus One censors cuss word

[Richard Forno]

Not sure I appreciate the carrier or device censoring the user's  
remarks, even in limited functions.  --rick

January 23, 2010 11:33 AM PST
How Google's Nexus One censors cuss words
by Chris Matyszczyk
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10440115-71.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Some of you who have been basking in the beauty of your new Nexus One  
Googlephone may not have tried out all of its delightful features.

And what I am about to tell you may lead you to utter some naughty  
words. Please, go ahead. I have heard them all, in several different  
languages. And I respect the vehemence of the vernacular.

However, your Nexus One will not be so charmed by the vigor of your  
tongue. It will, dare I utter the word when referring to a product  
from the newly emancipated Google, censor you.

You see, the pungently polite people at Reuters were playing with  
their Nexus One when they noticed something about its built-in voice- 
to-text feature.

Every time they said something naughty into the phone, the naughty  
word came out as "####"--and not just "f---." It even censored the "S"  
part of BS.

Reuters immediately called Google and screamed at them: "What the ####  
are you miserable ############# playing at?"

Oh, perhaps I have stretched the boundaries of possibility with that  
heartening notion. They probably asked a little more politely, given  
that they secured a really quite ingenious reply from a Googleperson.

Apparently, the censorship is not because Google is trying to clean up  
the world and turn it into the nicest parts of Alabama. No, the  
company is worried about what might be transcribed.

"We filter potentially offensive or inappropriate results because we  
want to avoid situations whereby we might misrecognize a spoken query  
and return profanity when, in fact, the user said something completely  
innocent," Google told Reuters.

Yes, the technology isn't quite perfect, so even the potential of a  
misplaced curse is being avoided at all costs.

What interests me most is how Google chooses its list of naughty  
nuances. Is there some poor engineer over at the Googleplex whose sole  
task was to write software that immediately identifies expletive  
expressions? Do they take account of those who swear in Spanish,  
Italian, or, like me, Polish?

And if you say "For crying out loud" a little too quickly, might the  
transcription come out with a four letter f-word (or rather four hash  
marks) at the beginning?

One other thing. I have a Croatian friend. If I ever got a Nexus One,  
I would like to be able to address him by his name. His name is Fuk.  
Would his name be transcribed, every time, as ###? How sad.