Parents Beware: Bing Previews Video Porn

(CBS)  Microsoft's new Bing search engine has a highly touted feature that some parents may find troublesome. Bing's video search tool has a preview mode that lets you view and listen to part of a video simply by hovering over it with your mouse. Trouble is, it works with porn as well as "family friendly" videos.

I tested this feature quickly and with great caution on board a Virgin America WiFi equipped flight, being careful to shield the screen from fellow passengers and crew.

When I searched for a word that was sure to bring up porn, I was first warned that it "may return explicit adult content" and told that "to view these videos, turn off safe search." One click later, safe search was off and I was looking a page of naughty thumbnails. And, as advertised, hovering the mouse over a thumbnail started the video and audio. Even when playing in a small thumbnail, it was unmistakably hard core porn.

Of course, kids don't need Bing to find and view porn. You can find it with Google and other search engines, and even though Google has a filtered search option, there's nothing to stop someone from turning that off. But Microsoft makes it a little too easy. If moderate or strict filtering is on and you search for a filtered term, the site simply instructs you to click a link to "change your SafeSearch setting." If you configure Google for "strict filtering," a user who searches for a filtered term on Google simply sees that the word or phrase "did not match any documents." Of course a kid can always go in and change Google's settings but they have to know how to do it and bother doing it. Microsoft makes it all too easy.

I don't know if Microsoft plans to do deal with this issue in any updates, but regardless of whether your kid uses Bing, Google, or Yahoo, or just knows the URLs of porn sites, the only ways to protect your kids from accessing porn is either to watch them, educate them, or filter them.
Watching them might work with very young children but it's not exactly practical for teens or even pre-teens. I recommend that kids under eight be supervised when using a device with Internet access. Education will work with many kids but not all. Parents certainly have the right to set rules and guidelines and impose consequences if their kids access forbidden sites. But, let's face it, hormones, curiosity, and just plain interest in things sexual can have a strong pull on kids, especially teenage boys. Besides, some younger kids could stumble on porn if they use any unfiltered search engine, even if they're just looking for innocuous terms like "Barbie."

Filtering programs (or the parental controls built into Vista and Mac OS X) will block most porn sites, but it's not yet entirely clear which ones will prevent Bing from previewing such sites. Safe Eyes filtering software "blocks all pornographic content on Bing and Google searches out of the box," according to a post on its company blog. From my perch in the sky, I wasn't able to check with other filtering companies, but I'm betting some will and some won't.

Coincidentally, I'm writing this post on the way to Washington, D.C. for the first meeting of the Commerce Department's NTIA Internet Safety Working Group, which I serve on. I have a feeling this will come up at Thursday's meeting. As one of my fellow working group members, Internet Keep Safe Coalition President Marsali Hancock, said by e-mail, "as new technologies release it is critical that industry and child health advocates explore the potential impact on young developing minds and quickly respond to health and safety concerns."

I'm going to keep on top of this issue with Microsoft and the filtering companies and will report back as this story unfolds.

By Larry Magid

[cryonerve]

"When I searched for a word that was sure to bring up porn" I fail to understand Bing did its job too well? What would you have wanted? bunny pictures?

[rigsbyt]

I agree Ted69--2008, but I would like to add...

When is this country going to stop being freaked out about LIFE.

We need no censorship or any other form of hiding the truth, if everyone would learn the truth maybe we wouldn't have to "protect our kids" because they would know the dangers and would NEED to figure out their own actions, and be responsible for them instead of blaming the government for their lack of intelligence. There is a such thing as being to safe, and that is when you have so many laws that you can't even move without breaking the law. If people would realize that we are no different than any other mammal on planet earth, in that we also have an instinct to procreate, and when you try to censor or ban an INSTICT, you are fighting a losing battle.

Humans are actually worse than animals... If you don't believe me then awnser two queastions?

What Species is the smartest? Human or Animal? This awnser really doesn't matter...

Which Species has done ALL the harm to this planet? Human or Animal? There is only one correct awnser here! If your awnser is Animal then you need to go to the LIBRARY...

You know the place where you can learn ANYTHING if YOU PUT FORTHE THE EFFORT TO LEARN IT.

Life is clouded by human emotion, and that emotion of wanting safety, security, and all of that other stuff is a waste of time and so is Homeland Security.

Life is suposed to be hard, those that learn and adapt SURVIVE. Those that want hand outs and choose to be unintelligent DIE.

If you want your children to BE SAFE then educate them in LIFE not ACADEMICS because I have never seen instructions in an Algebra book on how to build a lean-to, skin an animal, grow a garden, or anything else that will sustain life. Parents if you are intelligent in LIFE, then teach your children to survive, and if you don't know how to survive then teach your kids to DIE... I know this comment hurts but that IS LIFE, LIFE HURTS SO GET USED TO IT, AND CENSORING EVERYTHING TO MAKE LIFE EASIER FOR OUR CHILDREN IS BRINGING DOOM DOWN ON LATER GENERATIONS...

If anyone reads this and gets upset then I have done my job and made you think, even if you think it is right or wrong doesn't matter the point is I caused emotion which is the downfall of human civilization!!!

ps. IF YOU DON'T LIKE MY ALL CAPS, then to bad you can't change me even if you tried and etiquette is a waste of time, at the dinner table it just puts rules for the intake of food which hinders survival. Who cares where the salad fork is, just give me the food i'll eat it with my fingers it will still taste the same, and on the internet weither a letter is uppercase or lowercase doesn't make any difference, YOU CAN STILL READ CAN'T YOU???

[common2cents]

So what's the actual problem here? As long as the filter's on it sounds like you won't get any porn hits. Is the author really concerned that a kid searching for porn is going to be able to preview porn, as opposed to being forced to click the links in order to determine which ones are good?

I went on google, and it will tell you if the filter's blocking words that you put into the search box, so there's no difference there even

[DefendLiberty]

The "anti-porn" fear mongering has become an industry unto itself. Maggit is flying to WDC for what reason? He's in the BUSINESS of making porn an issue. The "Conference" he is attending will include a large number of people who make a living ginning up irrational fear about the internet polluting the country. The meeting will have a large number of COMPANIES that PROFIT from that fear. The conference ORGANIZERS make MONEY from holding this and other conferences to GIN UP FEAR over the internet. The POLITICIANS who HOST these "conferences" use the FEAR to GET VOTES.

It's just another SCAM- another way to make Americans FRIGHTENED and MAKE MONEY FROM IT.

[observer2020]

It all comes back to parental responsibility. There are tools to prevent kids from viewing/reading most anything the parents find objectionable. They just need to find it and use it. It is not the place of ISPs, content providers, or search engines to block such sites. If it were, there would be no internet, as different people find different material objectionable. So the question comes down to, "who's the adult in your house?"
Posted by rf35

Well said! Before the internet there were people listening to records backwards, forwards, at high speed, and slowed down just to find something objectionable.

[ZettaPixel]

I freakin' love Bing. I think you need to focus more on the parents that let their kids type in "big bouncy boobies" in ANY search engine than to make a big stink over the fact that Bing lets you preview the videos that come up when you type that into the search engine.

[dragonffire]

Passing on good values to one's children might be a better way to deal with the constant and universal availability of 'porn'. But that implies having good values to pass on to one's children. Ah there's the rub. In this society run by and for trailer trash morons (has to do with 'values' not residence) there are few good values available. Parents scream about their children being 'busted' for 'sexting'. Parents complain that their children are 'unfairly' jailed for drug possession, use or sale. Parents howl about their children's drinking parties being reported to the police by the neighbors. What values do these freaks have to pass on to their children? Parents pressure the teachers to give a free pass to children to do not earn good grades. So we turn to the ISPs and the Government, local, state and federal, to solve the problem we've caused.

(Well, you said 'please leave a comment' so I did. Next time don't ask.)

[Oregon_State_OSU]

OH NO so much Drama

My kids are in Junior Highschool and trying to sheild them from the world is getting more and more difficult.

Time to move to an ISLAND.

[Slrman-21001573651763300012869]

As usual, people are focusing on the wrong problem. If you wish to "protect" your children, do it yourself by providing them with good examples in your own life, your teaching, and understanding.

First of all, it is not possible to protect children from everything. Nor is it desirable. It's called "growing up" and they will have to learn about things like porn, violence and power-hungry, constitution-hating presidents if they are ever to become capable adults. Are you going to hire a cop to stand over them 24/7 and make sure they never hear a swear word from their friends, or catch a glimpse of a sex organ not their own?

Take responsibility for your own children and stop passing the responsibility to the government and Micro$oft. (Two especially BAD choices)

[Ted69--2008]

I'm so sick and tired of scare tactics used by reporters and politicians to create controversy where none exists. "Parents Beware"...of what? A search engine that is essentially no different than every other search engine available today?

If kids want to view porn, they are going to find it no matter what safeguards parents put in place. Quit trying to whip parents into a panic when it comes to their children's natural curiousity. In my day, it was the copy of Playboy hidden but easily discovered in the back of our father's closet...today it's the internet. I (and millions of others) turned out fairly sane and rational after viewing it and odds are if your kids happen to see it, they will too.

There are countless other hazards in the world (and on the internet) much more detrimental to kids than whether or not they see a little skin. They won't immediately turn into drooling raincoat-wearing perverts if they inadvertently to stumble upon a racy website.

Can we please put an end to the constant "what about the children" fear-mongering? When will this country finally grow up and stop being so completely freaked out by sex?