Monday, 17 September 2007

Gmail: funny ad - but no adult filtering?






(No you're not seeing double! This is deliberate. I'll explain in a future post.) You know how Google inserts Adsense ads in your Gmail sidebar, depending on the content of your emails? Well I got this most peculiar ad just now in my mail, did a doubletake and, yes, my eyes weren't deceiving me:


Pole dancing, yep. Obviously very in keeping with the other mostly technology-oriented ads, isn't it. That's a subject of huge interest to me, of course (hah, I'd do me back in! Not to mention other parts of me. Supple I am not).

Hmmm, but maybe it's a new tech term I haven't heard of yet? Mashups first, poledancing next (or should that be vice versa)? Kinda go together don't they...

It's quite funny, in a way. But more seriously, if I were a "digital mom" I'd be a bit concerned about ads like this popping up in my daughter's email. Does Google's SafeSearch filtering, which you can turn on in your preferences for general Google searches to block adult-oriented or porn material and other "explicit sexual content" as Google put it, work in Gmail too? And even if it did, how would you prevent your kid from turning it back on??!

Google have been blogging about various lesser-known features of Gmail and labels and filters, but adult content filtering is probably something Google needs to think about if they haven't already, as Gmail grows in popularity.

4 comments:

kirk said...

Hey, I see double. Oh, you meant too.
;-) Being mercenary again aren't cha?

Shouldn't every young girl know how to pole dance?

[ducks]

Improbulus said...

Heh you got me number as usual Kirk! But seriously, it seems Gmailblog backlinks haven't been working since about 10 September. Unless they've banned ACE of course.

Funny, I have no trouble at all registering, all the way over here in London, the fervency of your belief that pole dancing is a skill every girl ought to acquire. Amongst a number of other skills too, no doubt.

There's no point trying to duck though, I have a pole and I know how to use it!

BonerOne said...

IMPROBULUS:
The final line of your reply/reaction really blew my skirt up. And I needed the laugh. ...bedamned with a bunch of adult filtering ...if some non-adult according to you're funny!

Improbulus said...

Well glad you had a good laugh BonerOne (err, some name!) Might as well get a laugh out of the ads.