<s>
The	B-Application
Scunthorpe	I-Application
problem	I-Application
is	O
the	O
unintentional	O
blocking	O
of	O
online	O
content	O
by	O
a	O
spam	O
filter	O
or	O
search	B-Application
engine	I-Application
because	O
their	O
text	O
contains	O
a	O
string	O
(	O
or	O
substring	O
)	O
of	O
letters	O
that	O
appear	O
to	O
have	O
an	O
obscene	O
or	O
otherwise	O
unacceptable	O
meaning	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
problem	O
was	O
named	O
after	O
an	O
incident	O
in	O
1996	O
in	O
which	O
AOL	O
's	O
profanity	B-Application
filter	I-Application
prevented	O
residents	O
of	O
the	O
town	O
of	O
Scunthorpe	O
,	O
North	O
Lincolnshire	O
,	O
England	O
,	O
from	O
creating	O
accounts	O
with	O
AOL	O
,	O
because	O
the	O
town	O
's	O
name	O
contains	O
the	O
substring	O
"	O
cunt	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
early	O
2000s	O
,	O
Google	B-Application
's	I-Application
opt-in	O
SafeSearch	B-Application
filters	O
made	O
the	O
same	O
error	O
,	O
with	O
local	O
services	O
and	O
businesses	O
that	O
included	O
Scunthorpe	O
in	O
their	O
names	O
or	O
URLs	O
among	O
those	O
mistakenly	O
excluded	O
from	O
appearing	O
in	O
search	B-Application
results	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	B-Application
Scunthorpe	I-Application
problem	I-Application
is	O
challenging	O
to	O
completely	O
solve	O
due	O
to	O
the	O
difficulty	O
of	O
creating	O
a	O
filter	O
capable	O
of	O
understanding	O
words	O
in	O
context	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2000	O
,	O
a	O
Canadian	O
television	O
news	O
story	O
on	O
web	B-Protocol
filtering	I-Protocol
software	I-Protocol
found	O
that	O
the	O
website	O
for	O
the	O
Montreal	O
Urban	O
Community	O
(	O
Communauté	O
Urbaine	O
de	O
Montréal	O
,	O
in	O
French	O
)	O
was	O
entirely	O
blocked	O
because	O
its	O
domain	O
name	O
was	O
its	O
French	O
acronym	O
CUM	O
(	O
www.cum.qc.ca	O
)	O
;	O
"	O
cum	O
"	O
(	O
among	O
other	O
meanings	O
)	O
is	O
English-language	O
slang	O
for	O
semen	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
February	O
2004	O
in	O
Scotland	O
,	O
Craig	O
Cockburn	O
reported	O
that	O
he	O
was	O
unable	O
to	O
use	O
his	O
surname	O
(	O
pronounced	O
"	O
Coburn	O
"	O
)	O
with	O
Hotmail	B-Operating_System
because	O
it	O
contains	O
the	O
substring	O
cock	O
,	O
a	O
vulgar	O
slang	O
word	O
for	O
the	O
penis	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Hotmail	B-Operating_System
initially	O
told	O
him	O
to	O
spell	O
his	O
name	O
C0ckburn	O
(	O
with	O
a	O
zero	O
instead	O
of	O
the	O
letter	O
"	O
o	O
"	O
)	O
but	O
later	O
reversed	O
the	O
ban	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2010	O
,	O
he	O
had	O
a	O
similar	O
problem	O
registering	O
on	O
the	O
BBC	O
website	O
,	O
where	O
again	O
the	O
first	O
four	O
characters	O
of	O
his	O
surname	O
caused	O
a	O
problem	O
for	O
the	O
content	B-Protocol
filter	I-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
February	O
2006	O
,	O
Linda	O
Callahan	O
was	O
initially	O
prevented	O
from	O
registering	O
her	O
name	O
with	O
Yahoo	B-Application
!	I-Application
</s>
<s>
Yahoo	B-Application
!	I-Application
</s>
<s>
In	O
July	O
2008	O
,	O
Dr.	O
Herman	O
I	O
.	O
Libshitz	O
could	O
not	O
register	O
an	O
e-mail	O
address	O
containing	O
his	O
name	O
with	O
Verizon	B-Application
because	O
his	O
surname	O
contained	O
the	O
substring	O
shit	O
,	O
and	O
Verizon	B-Application
initially	O
rejected	O
his	O
request	O
for	O
an	O
exception	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
a	O
subsequent	O
statement	O
,	O
a	O
Verizon	B-Application
spokeswoman	O
apologized	O
for	O
not	O
approving	O
his	O
desired	O
e-mail	O
address	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
months	O
leading	O
up	O
to	O
January	O
1996	O
,	O
some	O
web	B-Application
searches	I-Application
for	O
Super	O
Bowl	O
XXX	O
were	O
being	O
filtered	O
,	O
because	O
the	O
Roman	O
numeral	O
for	O
the	O
game	O
and	O
the	O
site	O
(	O
XXX	O
)	O
is	O
also	O
used	O
to	O
identify	O
pornography	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2008	O
,	O
the	O
filter	O
of	O
the	O
free	O
wireless	O
service	O
of	O
the	O
town	O
of	O
Whakatane	O
in	O
New	O
Zealand	O
blocked	O
searches	O
involving	O
the	O
town	O
's	O
own	O
name	O
because	O
the	O
filter	O
's	O
phonetic	B-Algorithm
analysis	I-Algorithm
deemed	O
the	O
"	O
whak	O
"	O
to	O
sound	O
like	O
fuck	O
;	O
the	O
town	O
name	O
is	O
in	O
Māori	O
,	O
and	O
in	O
the	O
Māori	O
language	O
"	O
wh	O
"	O
is	O
most	O
commonly	O
pronounced	O
as	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
July	O
2011	O
,	O
web	B-Application
searches	I-Application
in	O
China	O
on	O
the	O
name	O
Jiang	O
were	O
blocked	O
following	O
claims	O
on	O
the	O
Sina	B-Protocol
Weibo	I-Protocol
microblogging	O
site	O
that	O
former	O
Chinese	O
Communist	O
Party	O
(	O
CCP	O
)	O
general	O
secretary	O
Jiang	O
Zemin	O
had	O
died	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
February	O
2018	O
,	O
web	B-Application
searches	I-Application
on	O
Google	B-Application
's	I-Application
shopping	O
platform	O
were	O
blocked	O
for	O
items	O
such	O
as	O
glue	O
guns	O
,	O
Guns	O
N	O
 '	O
Roses	O
,	O
and	O
Burgundy	O
wine	O
after	O
Google	B-Application
hastily	O
patched	O
its	O
search	O
system	O
that	O
was	O
displaying	O
results	O
for	O
weapons	O
and	O
accessories	O
that	O
violated	O
Google	B-Application
's	I-Application
stated	O
policies	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2001	O
,	O
Yahoo	B-Application
!	I-Application
</s>
<s>
Mail	O
introduced	O
an	O
email	O
filter	O
which	O
automatically	O
replaced	O
JavaScript-related	O
strings	O
with	O
alternative	O
versions	O
,	O
to	O
prevent	O
the	O
possibility	O
of	O
cross-site	O
scripting	O
in	O
HTML	O
email	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
filter	O
would	O
hyphenate	O
the	O
terms	O
"	O
JavaScript	B-Language
"	O
,	O
"	O
JScript	B-Language
"	O
,	O
"	O
VBScript	B-Application
"	O
and	O
"	O
LiveScript	B-Language
"	O
;	O
and	O
replaced	O
"	O
eval	O
"	O
,	O
"	O
mocha	B-Language
"	O
and	O
"	O
expression	O
"	O
with	O
the	O
similar	O
but	O
not	O
quite	O
synonymous	O
terms	O
"	O
review	O
"	O
,	O
"	O
espresso	O
"	O
and	O
"	O
statement	O
"	O
,	O
respectively	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Assumptions	O
were	O
involved	O
in	O
the	O
writing	O
of	O
the	O
filters	O
:	O
no	O
attempts	O
were	O
made	O
to	O
limit	O
these	O
string	O
replacements	O
to	O
anchor	B-Language
script	I-Language
sections	O
and	O
attributes	O
,	O
or	O
to	O
respect	O
word	O
boundaries	O
,	O
in	O
case	O
this	O
would	O
leave	O
some	O
loopholes	O
open	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Blocked	O
e-mails	O
and	O
web	B-Application
searches	I-Application
relating	O
to	O
The	O
Beaver	O
,	O
a	O
magazine	O
based	O
in	O
Winnipeg	O
,	O
caused	O
the	O
publisher	O
to	O
change	O
its	O
name	O
to	O
Canada	O
's	O
History	O
in	O
2010	O
,	O
after	O
89	O
years	O
of	O
publication	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
June	O
2010	O
,	O
Twitter	B-Application
blocked	O
a	O
user	O
from	O
Luxembourg	O
29	O
minutes	O
after	O
he	O
had	O
opened	O
his	O
account	O
and	O
posted	O
his	O
first	O
tweet	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2011	O
,	O
in	O
the	O
video	O
games	O
Pokémon	B-Application
Black	I-Application
and	I-Application
White	I-Application
,	O
the	O
Pokémon	O
Cofagrigus	O
could	O
not	O
be	O
traded	O
online	O
to	O
other	O
players	O
without	O
a	O
nickname	O
because	O
its	O
species	O
name	O
contained	O
the	O
substring	O
fag	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Fredrik	O
Bergman	O
of	O
Diakrit	O
believes	O
that	O
the	O
file	O
names	O
triggered	O
the	B-Application
Great	I-Application
Firewall	I-Application
's	O
censors	O
used	O
to	O
block	O
discussion	O
of	O
Falun	O
Gong	O
,	O
a	O
banned	O
religious	O
movement	O
founded	O
in	O
China	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
January	O
2014	O
,	O
files	O
used	O
in	O
the	O
online	O
game	O
League	B-Application
of	I-Application
Legends	I-Application
were	O
reportedly	O
blocked	O
by	O
some	O
UK	O
ISP	O
filters	O
due	O
to	O
the	O
names	O
'	O
VarusExpirationTimer.luaobj	O
'	O
and	O
'	O
XerathMageChainsExtended.luaobj	O
'	O
,	O
which	O
contain	O
the	O
substring	O
sex	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
May	O
2020	O
,	O
despite	O
extensive	O
media	O
scrutiny	O
,	O
some	O
hashtags	O
directly	O
referring	O
to	O
British	O
political	O
advisor	O
Dominic	O
Cummings	O
were	O
unable	O
to	O
trend	O
on	O
Twitter	B-Application
because	O
the	O
substring	O
cum	O
triggered	O
an	O
anti-porn	O
filter	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
October	O
2020	O
,	O
a	O
Twitter	B-Application
profanity	B-Application
filter	I-Application
banned	O
the	O
words	O
"	O
bone	O
"	O
,	O
"	O
pubic	O
"	O
,	O
and	O
"	O
stream	O
"	O
at	O
a	O
paleontology	O
conference	O
.	O
</s>
