Bing search makes porn easy to filter out

Microsoft says it has adjusted its freshly-launched Bing search engine to make it easier to filter out porn.

Adults-only images and video will be served from a separate domain, explicit.bing.net, so that content can easily be barred from Bing search results, according to Bing general manager Mike Nichols.

"This is invisible to the end customer, but allows for filtering of that content by domain which makes it much easier for customers at all levels to block this content," Nichols said in a message atop an official Bing website.

Also, information about which domain potentially explicit pictures or video are coming from will be served up in a manner that makes it more apparent to content filtering software, according to Nichols.

The US software colossus described Bing as a "Decision Engine" aimed at helping people make buying decisions, plan trips, research health matters or find local businesses.

Bing's launch came in the wake of Google and Yahoo! announcing refinements to their search services and the launch of a Wolfram Alpha query engine that delivers answers instead of lists of websites.

Bing replaces MSN Live Search, which has languished in a distant third place behind market-leading Google and second-place Yahoo!

(c) 2009 AFP