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Bing disables “trending” feature after wildly inappropriate results:
Microsoft has shut down a feature in its Bing search engine that shows popular articles from major websites after Ars Technica reported that the feature was showing wildly inappropriate results from the stock photo site Shutterstock. How inappropriate? Well, here are a couple of screenshots I took on Wednesday morning after a reader tipped me off to the problem:
[screenshots presenting Bing's Trending carousel]
This is what I saw after searching Bing for "Shutterstock." These weren't the very top results—I scrolled down a bit before taking these screenshots—but this "trending articles" carousel appeared on the first page.
I wasn't about to click on a link to "boys erection" without talking to a lawyer first. So my editor advised our tipster to notify the FBI, while I emailed Microsoft and Shutterstock to see if they could explain what was going on.
Happily, Microsoft and Shutterstock confirmed that there was no child porn here. The "boys erection" video is an entirely wholesome video of a boy "erecting" a tent. The "big tits stock video" link went to a video of a bird called a tit. There's nothing pornographic about the "mature mom and young son" video—though it was easy to assume otherwise given the titles of the other links.
[...] As the name suggests, this "trending articles" carousel is supposed to highlight articles on a website (Shutterstock in this case) that are most popular at the moment. Microsoft didn't just shut it down for Shutterstock. It has disabled the feature for all websites.
[...] While Microsoft says it takes full responsibility for not filtering out these results, the company says that all the data—including phrases like "boys erection" and "big tits"—came from Shutterstock's website. The titles shown in these results are not the titles shown on the corresponding video pages. The tent video, for example, is labeled "caucasian dad and son assembling tent on holiday outdoors," not "boys erection."
(Score: 3, Insightful) by barbara hudson on Sunday April 26 2020, @01:55PM (14 children)
It says a lot that auto-generated click bait comes up with "boys erection".
The algorithms are giving people what they want. It doesn't take much imagination to realize these titles were generated from search terms and click responses. In other words, the Internet is full of old men who want to look at boys penises.
Maybe they should have spent more time changing their kids diapers - they would know that kiddie genitalia are not sexy. Or maybe it's better that they didn't, because there's something innately wrong with them.
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Sunday April 26 2020, @02:03PM (13 children)
You don't think that kids might have caused these "trends"? It could only be dirty old men? How about curious girls and boys who want to learn about the world around them? Or, learn about themselves, or their classmates? It seems that many of us have forgotten all about our own inquisitiveness when we were little people, and no one took us seriously. In my day, there was no internet. There was Grandma, who would scold, and tell us we don't need to know about that stuff. And, there were our classmates, who might tell us anything at all. One DID NOT ask Mom or Dad about anything that might be related to sex.
(Score: 2, Troll) by barbara hudson on Sunday April 26 2020, @03:34PM (9 children)
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Sunday April 26 2020, @04:04PM (7 children)
Offering a link to refute my opinion would be too much like work, wouldn't it? You voiced an opinion, I voiced a countering opinion, and you're going to pretend that one or both opinions can be looked up? Don't start that argument with me - I'm kinda lazy, but I can look up statistics and shit when I want to.
My position is, kids are on the internet, all day, every day. Kids are interested in sex. Kids are interested in dirty jokes, double entendres, and much more. If you want to shoot that idea down, go ahead, but it takes more than your stated opinion to shoot down my own stated opinion.
(Score: 1, Troll) by barbara hudson on Sunday April 26 2020, @06:07PM (6 children)
Look up "opinion." It doesn't mean what you think it means. But if you think that people need to provide links to "prove" their opinions, you've just outed yourself as a hypocrite because you offer nothing to prove your opinion.
And that sums up in a nutshell what is wrong with geeks and nerds - you need to get out into the real world more, where it's okay to voice opinions. I've been very careful never to have any relationship with any of my co-workers outside of work at tech jobs because nerds and geeks are too toxic. Other jobs, sure, no problem, but not tech jobs.
And the absolute worst of you are the assholes who think that it's immoral to charge for code - I should give it away for free. I've always been paid for code, both as a freelance dev and as an employee. So that makes me a paid whore? Okay, but better than a slut who gives it away for free.
I expressed my opinion. You want to pick a fight over it, I say grow the fuck up. Find something better to do with your life. Me, I'm enjoying volunteer work and relaxing with my dogs. I'll be going in later today to work with non-geeks, people I can actually relate to. Same tomorrow (Monday). Then, unless I'm called earlier, again Thursday. Always with people I like, friends, non-geeks who aren't so weak that any opinion that goes against theirs must be denounced, denied, deflected. -
You all keep shoving in my face just how unhappy you are, how dysfunctional. I'm just fortunate that I'm not one of you. I wonder how anyone can contemplate a lifetime, including retirement, glued to a screen. Or you could do like your failed hero RMS, who even after 65 was begging on his website for another place to stay because he's always been a bit shiftless. I have 2 spare bedrooms, and I've let people stay for free. But him? Never. Anyone who eats toe jam in public, and all who defend it, are disgusting.
Those are more of my opinions, and I don't have to justify them either. But seriously, why are you people all so insecure and unhappy? Why is a real social life beyond you? Because most of society regards you as misfits and aren't interested in arguments over software philosophies and holy wars. I go years in the real world without talking about computers and software. There's so many more fun things to say and do and experience, even in lockdown, if you know how to use the opportunities life presents. But that would require you to step out of your bubble world and actually do something society deems essential. Then you get to go out even in lockdown, you get n95 masks, and you get to see your friends, all while helping make your community a better place.
My opinion. And yes, I have no problem being a code whore - you want code, pay me. Double, because I'm retired and would rather do pretty much anything else, or even nothing. Open source is dead.
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Sunday April 26 2020, @07:53PM (5 children)
In light of one of your recent journal rants, it sure looked as if you were telling me to "look it up".
And, FYI, I am not dysfunctional. I am a fully functional asshole.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 26 2020, @08:44PM
Not to mention, if you have a kid, especially one raging with hormones, and they aren't trying to find things the most obvious way possible, such as putting "erection" or "big tits" into a search engine, there's probably something wrong with them. If anything, the "dirty old men" would be the ones smart enough not to put that into a commercial search engine like that.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday April 26 2020, @10:00PM (2 children)
Now witness the power of this fully armed and operational asshole. Fire at will, Commander.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 27 2020, @12:27AM (1 child)
It it a sign I've seen the movie too much that I read that with a British accent?
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday April 27 2020, @05:32AM
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 26 2020, @10:06PM
Runaway is both a bi-curious child, and a dirty old man. With an arsehole.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Sunday April 26 2020, @10:37PM
Sort of. I'll bet that doesn't often feature much more than defeatured illustrations (lest the author get busted for CP). Kids remain curious. And plenty of them have parents that strenuously object to sex education, health class in general, the theory of evolution, the spheroid Earth, etc.
Not saying there aren't also perverted adults out there, but that's not the sole source of such searches. Meanwhile, some of the more enlightened parents may actually be the source of those search terms because they want to teach their kids about it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 27 2020, @06:44AM (2 children)
I was a curious boy in those long ago days. Despite my best efforts, I made it to age 13 without finding out what girls really had down there. Being a nerd didn't help, of course, but frankly I was just quite well-protected by the adults. Or as I saw it then, thwarted in my every attempt by the cruel oldsters who seemed to relish my ignorance. Every try was interrupted before anything sufficiently naughty could happen, despite my continued efforts; at least I was never quite caught at it.
I was finally successful in obtaining the forbidden knowledge when my oldest sister entered college. She and her boyfriend (later husband) were going to spend a day at the college library, and I was suffered to tag along. While they got all googly-eyed in a study booth, I attacked the card catalog. Yes, the card catalog, those long stacks of cards, one card per book. I of course went straight to the 'S's, finally finding the tray with the glorious subject of ess eee ecks. In my casual and nonchalant way I jotted down the shelf numbers which held the books I sought, surrounded by college students and adult librarians who were none the wiser to my fevered scheme. (In retrospect, I'm sure every single one of 'em knew exactly what I was doing.)
There, in a medical textbook, was the knowledge I had been so long denied. A line drawing of female human genitalia. That day I learned what I had sought.
Of course, in some of the other books I had to wade through to find the right one, I also learned that day about necrophilia, beastiality, pedophilia, foot fetishes, coprophilia, bondage, sadism/masochism, and probably other things I've fortunately forgotten about. Did finding out all this not so nice stuff all at the same time kinda mess me up? Looking back... yep. Sure did.
So by keeping anything about sex from me, all the adults did was help set me up for taking a double-barreled shotgun of abnormal sexual psychology straight to my brainpan. I mean, look at me -- I'm an Anonymous Coward, for cryin' out loud.
As an adult, when a kid asks me a question, I answer it. Age appropriately of course. Mostly. This has led to some very uncomfortable discussions with my niece, but she got the answers she needed when she needed them instead of ending up like me.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 27 2020, @02:04PM (1 child)
Well what are you teaching her? Bestiality? Necrophilia? Abstinence? All fair and balanced (aka equal time), I hope.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 27 2020, @07:10PM
Okay, from a comedic standpoint, that was hilarious. From a personal standpoint: yuck.
What I meant was, I answered her questions on where babies come from when she was a preteen. She had certain unsettling dreams as a young teen that I discussed with her, reassuring her that she wasn't weird, and directing her to certain books that discussed women's dreams. Then the week before her prom I answered certain questions about how she could stay safe while performing certain actions she was contemplating, and that I did it without blinking I think was my finest moment as an uncle. (I don't know if she did or did not follow through, and I don't wanna know.) She's in her thirties now, and well beyond any need of advice from her old doddering uncle, except perhaps in the area of cane-shaking at yard-tresspassing hooligans.