[Foundation-l] 86% of german users disagree with the introduction of the personal image filter

[David Levy]

Marcus Buck wrote:

> From what I understood the image filter will not have subjective
> criteria like "a little offensive", "very offensive", "pornography",
> but neutrally decidable criteria like "depicts nude female breasts",
> "depicts the face of Muhammad", "depicts mutilated dead body".

The WMF outline cites "5–10 categories," with "sexual imagery" and
"violent imagery" as examples:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image_filter_referendum/en

As Tobias Oelgarte noted, even with the type of specificity to which
you refer, the omission of countless widespread objections (a
non-neutral, discriminatory practice) would be unavoidable.  Who's
going to analyze millions of images (with thousands more uploaded
every day) to tag the ones containing unveiled women?

Tobias also pointed out that even if we _were_ to include every
widespread objection, the resultant quantity of filter categories
would be unmanageable.

As David Gerard noted, terms like "mutilated" are highly subjective.
At what level of injury does a murder victim qualify?  Fae mentioned
ancient Egyptian mummies.  Do they count?

Does an autopsy constitute "mutilation"?  Is a dead man's circumcised
penis "mutilated"?  (Many people would argue that it is.)

Do non-photographic images qualify?  If so, this article contains
several images that arguably should be filtered:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descent_from_the_Cross

Speaking of artwork, Fae mentioned the depictions of "nude female
breasts" contained therein.  Do those count?  What about photographs
of breasts taken in medical contexts?  Are those equivalent to those
taken in sexual contexts?  If not, how do we define a "sexual
context"?

Do you foresee clear consensus in these areas?

This is what Fred Bauder means when he notes that "some depictions of
such things are offensive or pornographic and some not at all."  But
this is entirely subjective.  We can expect endless debates on these
subjects and countless others (and probably tag wars as well).

Conversely, the alternative image filter implementation on which I've
harped would enable readers to decide for themselves on an individual,
case-by-case basis:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Image_filter_referendum/en/Categories#general_image_filter_vs._category_system
or
http://goo.gl/t6ly5

David Levy