The Zune HD Twitter App & Curse Words [Archive]

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Jason Dunn

12-18-2009, 06:53 PM

Soon after the Zune HD Twitter app was released yesterday, people who were following people who swore in their Tweets noticed something strange: the app on the Zune was filtering the swear words and replacing letters with asterixes. It looked like this:<img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/zt/auto/1261156842.usr1.jpg" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" />Image courtesy of <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/17/microsoft-updating-zune-hd-twitter-to-stop-censoring-tweets/" target="_blank">Engadget</a>Now, personally I don't follow many people who swear - and would probably un-follow anyone who swore constantly - so this issue didn't bother me at all. Many people got worked up about this though, so when I started to think about why Microsoft did this, the reason seemed obvious to me: parental controls.If you're a parent, and you bought an iPod for your kid, you might not want him to be able to download any app he wants from the app store. The app store doesn't have truly "adult" apps, but there are some "mature themed" apps.  <a href="http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1904" target="_blank">From within iTunes</a> you can control which apps your kid is allowed to download. If you own an iPod you've doubtless seen the pop-up warnings about age 17+ content on apps like <a href="http://www.fmylife.com/" target="_blank">FML</a> [NSFW] - those are more of a "cover your butt" thing from developers. The reality is that if a parent wants to control which apps their kid downloads, they need to lock it down from iTunes. <MORE />Here's the thing though: the Zune software lacks any type of parental controls. There's no way to lock down a Zune HD from downloading mature-themed apps. Up until now, with only a handful of games and a couple of utilities, this hasn't been a problem. But with the Twitter app, the Zune HD had an app that could have some mature content on it. So my thought was "OK, that must be why they're censoring curse words in the Zune HD app - because they don't have a way to allow parents to block the install of the app." Sounds reasonable, right?It seems not - I was interpreting the Zune team's behaviour incorrectly. I asked the Zune team for an official response to this issue of censoring on the Zune HD Twitter app, and here's what I got back from them:"The recently released Twitter for Zune HD application has been abbreviating some explicit words in tweets when viewed on the device; however these explicit words do appear in their full text on the Twitter site or on any other Twitter client. We have identified the issue and are taking steps to update the application as soon as possible to ensure Twitter for Zune HD users are able to view tweets in their original state." - Microsoft spokespersonThey've "identified" the "issue"? That's Microsoft-speak for "we've found a bug". This makes no sense to me though - the app filtering curse words isn't a bug, it's a feature. A bug is the Zune HD Twitter app disconnecting from WiFi, or locking up (I haven't seen either of these issues myself). Word-censoring is feature that was poorly received and resulted in some blow-back - mostly from people who delight in hammering Microsoft on everything they can - but instead of explaining why this feature was implemented, the Zune team is back-peddling and trying to pretend like this is a glitch that shouldn't have made it's way into the product.When I asked the Microsoft spokesperson for further clarification on this issue of it being a "bug", I was told that he had no further information for me. Something doesn't seem right about this. <a href="http://www.ehansberry.com/" target="_blank">Ed Hansberry</a> came up with this interesting thought: perhaps this was a feature that was meant to be something you could toggle off or on, but it wasn't quite ready yet and somehow it got turned on by accident? And we'll see this feature come back in a later version of the app? But if that's the case, why not explain that to Zune users? Pretending a feature is a "bug" is disingenuous at best. Come on Zune team, I know you can do better than that!Jason Dunn owns and operates <a href="http://www.thoughtsmedia.com/" target="_blank">Thoughts Media Inc.</a>, a company dedicated to creating the best in online communities. He enjoys <a href="http://photos.jasondunn.com/" target="_blank">photography</a>, mobile devices, <a href="http://www.jasondunn.com/" target="_blank">blogging</a>, digital media content creation/editing, and pretty much all technology. He lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with his lovely wife, and his sometimes obedient dog. He's dreaming of the day when he can get a Zune HD with 64 GB of storage.<img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com//ppct/auto/1240336793.usr1.gif" />Do you enjoy using new hardware, software and accessories, then sharing your experience with others? Then join us on the <a href="http://www.thoughtsmedia.com/reviewteam.php" target="_blank">Thoughts Media Review Team</a>! We're looking for individuals who find it fun to test new gear and give their honest opinions about the experience. It's a volunteer role with some great perks. Interested? <a href="http://www.thoughtsmedia.com/reviewteam.php" target="_blank">Then click here for more information.</a><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com//ppct/auto/1240336793.usr1.gif" />

Josh Sorenson

12-18-2009, 07:53 PM

I completely agree with what you are saying. I actually liked this "bug", something that didn't make me put up with reading people's potty mouths.

I am the same way with the people I follow. If you swear, considered yourself unfollowed. I "unfollow" people that swear in real life to, it's not just a twitter thing for me.

As my grandma says: "People who swear just aren't smart enough to come up with real words to say."

Maybe the real words part is wrong, but they don't know how to release anger correctly. Using swear words is never appropriate anyway.

I've rambled enough and even quoted my grandma, so let me some it up. I want this "bug" to come back!

Phillip Dyson

12-19-2009, 08:39 AM

I'm not a huge promonent of swearing, and probably wouldn't follow anyone that swore a lot either. But that is my choice. Not Microsoft's.

Plus, all of that aside, it would have been a stupid move it turned out to be intentional. The zune app offering is arguably the weakest around. Why would they weaken it even further by crippling it any a way that no one else is.

nook

12-21-2009, 07:03 PM

is censorship, period. Saying it's an issue for parents makes no sense. Does the ZuneHD browse the web? Yes. Does it censor pages that you visit? No. So why censor the less likely of the two media formats to show your kid bad things? There are MUCH worse things on the web than there are on Twitter. My issue is censorship. I have been against censorship since the 80's when the whole backmasking thing was a big deal and Tipper Gore was basically the spokesperson for censorship. I am against Wal-Mart doing the whole "Clean Version" of music CD's. Essentially, Twitter could be considered a digital format of a free press, and censoring it would therefore be in violation of the Constitutional right to free speech. If a parent doesn't want their child to use the Twitter app because they might see a curse word, then it's up to the PARENT to keep the child from using it! I am so tired of people who feel that it's the job of the media to keep kids from objectionable material! Parents are so quick to put the responsibility of keeping material they deem bad for their children on other people! IT'S THEIR JOB!!!! I did a term paper on the effect of media on children and the role of the parent, so it's a pet peeve of mine, sorry to rant. That said, I LOVE MY ZUNEHD!!!!!!!!!

Ed Hansberry

12-21-2009, 08:12 PM

If a parent doesn't want their child to use the Twitter app because they might see a curse word, then it's up to the PARENT to keep the child from using it! I am so tired of people who feel that it's the job of the media to keep kids from objectionable material! Parents are so quick to put the responsibility of keeping material they deem bad for their children on other people! IT'S THEIR JOB!!!! I did a term paper on the effect of media on children and the role of the parent, so it's a pet peeve of mine, sorry to rant. That said, I LOVE MY ZUNEHD!!!!!!!!!

It is the role of the parent, but the parent needs the tools. I suspect this will come back in a form of parental controls somehow rather than just being enabled across the board. Windows has parental controls, and I further bolster those in my house by using OpenDNS with their filters. It is absurd to tell me that if I don't want my kids to see certain things on the internet I should keep them off of the internet. Simlarly the same for Twitter and objectionable language. I applaud the ZUne team for thinking of this, they just really messed up the execution.

I have kids and have gotten into numerous discussoins with people on both sides of the aisle. Most parents don't want anyone censoring info for them. They just want the tools to filter by their own standards. That is where the media, web services and software comes in.

nook

12-21-2009, 08:22 PM

Phillip Dyson

12-21-2009, 10:22 PM

It is the role of the parent, but the parent needs the tools. I suspect this will come back in a form of parental controls somehow rather than just being enabled across the board. Windows has parental controls, and I further bolster those in my house by using OpenDNS with their filters. It is absurd to tell me that if I don't want my kids to see certain things on the internet I should keep them off of the internet. Simlarly the same for Twitter and objectionable language. I applaud the ZUne team for thinking of this, they just really messed up the execution.

I have kids and have gotten into numerous discussoins with people on both sides of the aisle. Most parents don't want anyone censoring info for them. They just want the tools to filter by their own standards. That is where the media, web services and software comes in.

Ed, I agree with you hear. As a new parent of a 14 year old I can identify. My response was based on, at least to me, Jason's article about people just wanting curse words.

I believe that tools and options should be available for parents (or anybody) to be able to put controls in place. I agree short of actually changing a created work, like a movie but that is another topic from long ago.

I agree that this was probably a freudian slip on the the Zune team's up coming parental controls. Which could also be a foreshadowing of a more robust application marketplace. And that is good for everyone. :cool:

Of course, I agree with Jason. Why wouldn't they just cop to it instead of this who "bug fix" response. Maybe there is something big on the horizon and they just didn't want any leaks about it before they were ready to annouceme something.