Tech moves fast! Stay ahead of the curve with Techopedia!
Join nearly 200,000 subscribers who receive actionable tech insights from Techopedia.
The Scunthorpe problem is a relatively common technology issue where systems censor data based on faulty or irrelevant designations. It's named after the town of Scunthorpe in North Lincolnshire, England.
After some British technologies censored the names of towns like Scunthorpe based on faulty algorithms identifying them as obscene words, the "Scunthorpe problem" became part of the IT parlance. In a Scunthorpe problem situation, technologies are taking text strings including the letters of obscene words and characterizing them as obscenities, blocking them or redacting them for users.
The Scunthorpe problem shows how imprecise or blanket activity can hinder the utility of filtering or censoring technologies.
Join nearly 200,000 subscribers who receive actionable tech insights from Techopedia.