Most user-generated content on the Web passes through some kind of swear filter. According to WebPurify CEO Jonathan Freger, the process is surprisingly democratic. Since 2007 WebPurify has been working behind the scenes to filter profanity for everyone from WordPress bloggers to Fortune 500 companies, as well as public media enterprise PBS. The company, which has offices in Los Angeles and New York, recently added image moderation and enterprise licensing to its list of services. We caught up with Freger last week to get his thoughts on the future of free speech on the Web.
“What [people who advocate free speech] don’t understand is that what they’re doing when they’re typing into someone else’s website is typing on their property,” Freger pointed out. Site administrators “are are self-moderating,” he said. “It’s not like a government entity that’s doing it.” Freger doesn’t foresee any government-mandated profanity filters on the Web other than the ones services like his provide to individual sites. “It’s too wide open right now,” he explained.
