Subject: New Jersey's 'sexy' counties Internet censors blocking Jersey's 'sexy' counties By Jeff May Newark Star-Ledger July 1, 1997 With its tractor pulls, pig and poultry exhibitions, and demolition derbies, the Sussex County Fair is almost a parody of wholesome fun. But to some programs that parents use to block pornographic material on the Internet, the Web site for "New Jersey's Best Fair" might as well be a pit of sin. The problem: Sussex contains the word "sex." To a computer searching for smut, that's all that's needed to raise a red flag. Most filtering programs rely on key words, and sex is at the top of the forbidden list. Children who try to log on to the Sussex fair site might as well be trying to dial up Playboy online. Essex and Middlesex counties have the same problem. The free program that America Online provides for its subscribers, for example, blocks online access to both Essex County College and the Essex County Clerk's Office. "We're as G-rated as a Disney movie," protested Patrick McNally, the county clerk. Passport information and property tax tips hardly make for racy subject matter, and McNally said he was "somewhat amused" that it would be considered as such. Web surfers apparently agree: Since the site was created earlier this year, only 2,958 people have visited it. "Probably 2,900 are me," McNally said. But McNally said he understood the impulse to use parental control programs, which are expected to become more popular in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision to strike down government control of indecent material on the Internet. "As a father, I certainly don't want my children to stumble across something they shouldn't on the Net," he said. "I could see where it would be a problem." Most problems with the screening devices occur when parents rely on the broadest keywords possible, said Gordon Ross, president and CEO of Net Nanny, one of several programs on the market to screen out objectionable content. They usually disappear as users become more knowledgeable about the system. "Unfortunately, some people don't read the manuals," he said. Parents may not need to by 2000. Advances in artificial intelligence are expected to make the cybercensors a lot more discriminating, Ross said. "A lot of the decisions will be made by the computer itself," he said. Some companies say they've already reached that point. A spokesman for Surfwatch, Jay Friedland, says the popular program uses "pattern matching" to weed out references to sex but not acceptable ones such as the poet Anne Sexton. "The key focus for us is real simplicity," Friedland said. "Even if we were overblocking accidentally, it is very easy to turn off." But most e-mail requests to the company ask for advice about blocking sites, not unblocking them, he said. "It's about 100 to one," he said. For now, sponsors of the Sussex County Fair aren't overly concerned about children being unable to scroll through the festival's web site. The site is a little more than a year old, but the fair doesn't rely on it for promotions, said spokeswoman Kathleen Cafasso. Dropping the web site address's reference to Sussex which, like the similar county names, is derived from the Saxons of old England isn't an option, Cafasso said. "We wouldn't even consider it," she said. "It's not worth the lack of identification."