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[ Go to August 1997 Table of Contents ]
Windows on the Web
-- by Diganta Majumder
Like any socially conscious online service provider, Microsoft Network (MSN) allows you to filter out undesirable content. The software giant's mostly proprietary offering is practically smut-free-though some of the chat can get a little dicey. But if you want access to everything, you can go anywhere you want to go-provided Microsoft deems it okay for you to go there. It turns out MSN does a little unsolicited filtering of its own. Specifically, if you use the service's Internet newsreader in search of warez sites (Usenet newsgroups often used to share pirated software), you're not likely to find any. And if you do, you'll find them empty when you get there. MSN says it "does not proactively block any newsgroups." But if someone should complain of illegal activity in a given newsgroup, then the newsgroup is duly investigated. If the charges check out, access is restricted. That restriction, however, is not advertised. Copyright (c) 1997 CMP Media Inc.
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