Webtv Can Block Out Some Artwork

The debate over controlling controversial material on the Internet is about to become a question for every American who can wield a remote control.

People who buy WebTV, the device that’s supposed to bring the Net to every American household with a television, also may get an unintended consequence if they want to prevent their children from seeing pornography.

A special filtering software people can use with WebTV not only blocks out the objectionable material, but also screens out artwork of nudes and other creative works.

The loss of access to some artwork is a necessary evil, say companies wrestling with the issue of how to popularize the Net in the family room without being Big Brother. But to artists following the path of everyone from Michelangelo to Robert Mapplethorpe in depicting the nude, the issue is clearly one of censorship.

“We do have artists on our site who do work that involves nudity but it’s done in the vein of art and fine art,” said Lile Elam, founder and Webmaster of Art on the Net, an artists’ cooperative in Menlo Park, Calif. that posts images of artwork on the Internet.

WebTV Networks Inc., based in Palo Alto, Calif., designed a system that enables users to access the Internet and collect electronic mail through their television sets. The system has been licensed and manufactured into terminals by Sony and Philips Magnavox.

The devices allow users to choose among three options for filtering the types of Internet content that can be seen: no filtering, a child-oriented filtering system that only allows users access to Web sites selected by Yahoo!’s youth service Yahooligans!, or a third system that is intended to be a middle ground between the two. The system, designed by SurfWatch Inc. of Los Altos, Calif., blocks access to sites featuring pornography and violence, using words like “nude” and “nudist” as a trigger to block the information. Instead of the requested Web page, a user will get a message, “Blocked by SurfWatch” and an open hand, signaling “Stop.”

But, sometimes, inoffensive material is inadvertently blocked. Earlier this year, the White House For Kids web site was blocked because it contained the word “couples” - a dirty word in the SurfWatch universe because sexually explicit sites often use it as part of their come-on.

WebTV unblocked the site after it was notified by the White House’s Webmaster.