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Nexus One censors rude words

by on26 January 2010

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Voice recognition gone wrong


While the
world plus dog is praising the Nexus One for its built-in voice recognition software it is starting to miff people who do not like the fact it sensors their messages.

For some reason Google has taken it upon itself to find a list of words and words that SOUND rude and replace them with ###. The voice-to-text feature is made to let users dictate their text messages, emails, and even search queries--so long as they're G-rated, it seems. An spoken insult could be translated by the phone into "#### you.” It even censors the "S" in "BS." (Whiskey tango foxtrot!? sub.ed.)

It is ironic that Google is going to war with China over free speech and firewalls while at the same time correcting the language of its customers. A spokesGoogle said that it is worried about what might accidentally be transcribed, given the limitations of voice recognition technology.

A Google spokesperson told Reuters, "We filter potentially offensive or inappropriate results because we want to avoid situations whereby we might misrecognise a spoken query and return profanity when, in fact, the user said something completely innocent."

Of course that means that any Croatians going by the name of Fuk his name will forever more be ### and my mate Mr Kuntz is really doomed. (Not sure that's a very popular name in Croatia. sub.ed.)
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