Content Most Foul: the British Library's Nanny Filter Blocks 'Hamlet'

An anonymous reader writes "A man using the British Library's public wi-fi found that access to an on-line copy of 'Hamlet' was blocked for 'violent content'. Now, it is true that 'Hamlet' is pretty violent (8 murders, including one before the play starts, plus one suicide). But the heavy-handed irony of a guardian of British cultural heritage censoring the greatest work of British literature is just too blatant to be ignored. Library staff initially didn't seem too interested in fixing the problem, but in the end they adjusted the filters."

Why are they blocking violent content?

[Rob the Bold]

TFA's a little short on detail, but why are they blocking violent content in the first place? I assume they have some reason to do so. And if that's the case, should it matter how old or famous the unacceptably violent work is?

Bottom line: if Hamlet fits their definition of inappropriate content, should they make explicit exceptions for particularly famous and important works, or should they evaluate the overall filtering/blocking objectives and rationale as well as the mechanisms and algorithms implementing those restrictions?

Re:Not So

[dkleinsc]

The old joke: Hamlet is a lousy play because about half its lines are cliches.

Not that Bill didn't write some other great stuff, but the fact remains that Hamlet is more influential than Lear or The Tempest or Richard III.

Re:Why are they blocking violent content?

[idontgno]

Or the Bible.

Re:Not So

[interkin3tic]

Rule 18.1: if you admit to liking some popular work of art, be it a song, a painting, a book, a movie, a videogame, or a play, and do so on the internet, someone will immediately criticize it. "Overrated" has a 50/50 chance of being used.

Observe. (ahem) The Beatles were a pretty good band. They had good songs. Like "Hey Jude." That was a good song.

...

Re:Why are they blocking violent content?

[SoTerrified]

This, in a nutshell, is the real problem with censorship, even well intended. If you have a human doing the censoring, you'll get personal opinions influencing your judgement. (Example, see the judge who prevented parents from naming their child 'Messiah' because "There is only one true Messiah".) If you automate it, you get pieces falling through the cracks like Hamlet. Now, in this case, they were able to reverse the censorship because everyone knows Hamlet. But suppose this wasn't already well known? What if this was the first work of a new author? And you saw it, thought it might be interesting, but it's blocked. Are you going to 'know' it's not really something that should be censored? Are you going to know that it's a mistake and get the library to do something to fix it? Nope. A potentially ground-breaking work like Hamlet gets buried, never to see the light of day instead of becoming a classic for the ages.

Re:Not So

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

Greatest Work? English Literature?

LoTR, you fool! ;-)

Re:Why are they blocking violent content?

[flayzernax]

Pardon me if I'm going to hitch on to your +5 insightful. This whole idea of censoring and removing decensatizing violence from our cultures is all wrong.

In cultures with high levels of violence. People manage just fine. Violence happens and it does not create a mass stampede of stupidity. People are able to resolve their issues with no problem.

When you brainwash people and the only way they know how to deal with anything "dangerous" or "aggressive" is to seek authority. This is when you get serious psychological issues. People who loose their minds over minor problem. The lack of respect. The lack of courtesy.

Media, art, and play are not the places to "pacify" us. It will create worse psychosis than the most horrible warfare known to man. We'd be better off living in the bibles figurative hell.

No one can be enlightened by previous human experience if we cannot share that experience. Through fiction, or history. Legend, or school.

The goal of these draconian rules (regardless of what the people actually implementing them believe) is to create the ultimate strife and slavery and tyranny. The destruction of our minds. Our power. And our ability to cope with life.