Minors can now enjoy squeaky-clean computing, thanks to ImageCensor. Billed as "antipornography software for Windows," it stops smut cold on computers running the Microsoft OS.
Unlike URL-based filtering software such as Net Nanny, ImageCensor blocks dirty pictures from being displayed, regardless of their format or source - online, local disk, or CD ROM.
The product employs an image-detecting algorithm developed by scanning and color-testing thousands of nude photographs. "The algorithm analyzes the color in an image to determine its wholesomeness," claims Philip Harris, director of Microtrope, a developer based in the United Kingdom. "We then apply other filters to make it more accurate."
Asked whether a classic such as Titian's Venus of Urbino would be blocked, Harris say that it probably wouldn't. As for other works of art or science, "we haven't come across any," he says sheepishly.
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