Stupid Damn Internet Filter for Dummies

As much as I’ll loathe repeating an advertisement for Windows 7, there’s one that illustrates a serious point.

Here’s the really, really, really simplified run-down of the benefits and short-comings of software like this.

• It’s fallible. It will produce false positives. It will let the occasional unwanted content through. But so will Conroy’s Internet Filter.
• You don’t have oversight over what makes the blocklist. But that’s true of Conroy’s Internet Filter as well.
• It doesn’t encourage the horse-trading of votes in the senate. Conroy’s Internet Filter probably will.
• It can be bypassed by anyone with the know-how. So can Conroy’s Internet Filter.
• It (Windows 7) costs money. But Conroy’s Internet Filter does and will – in tax dollars and in ISP costs.
• You can switch it off if it gets in the way of legitimate work. You can’t turn off Conroy’s Filter.
• Opting in for this as a Microsoft support feature doesn’t place an imposture on your neighbour. Conroy’s Internet Filter will.
• Microsoft’s Parental Control feature is an relatively elegant, simple solution to a problem. Conroy’s Internet Filter is a particularly costly, clumsy, inefficient piece of technology.

Isn’t that enough already?

~ Bruce

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