cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Website flagged as Hate Speech incorrectly on Safeguard

marcKV
Dabbler
Posts: 16
Registered: ‎26-07-2023

Website flagged as Hate Speech incorrectly on Safeguard

Hi there, my portfolio website has been labelled as Hate Speech on the Plusnet safeguard system. This is absolutely not the case and I would like help getting it recategorised please.
I see a few people on the forum have managed to fix this issue with help from @bobpullen

The website is marckeeling.co.uk, and is literally just some 3d renders and descriptions of my work. The only thing I can think that could have flagged the system is mentioning the word 'disabled' when referring to a group of artists I worked with, which is a bit crazy. I have changed the term to SENT artists to avoid it, but still need help getting it unfiltered please.

30 REPLIES 30
198kHz
Seasoned Hero
Posts: 5,736
Thanks: 2,790
Fixes: 41
Registered: ‎30-07-2008

Re: Website flagged as Hate Speech incorrectly on Safeguard

Welcome to the forum. 🙂

On the portfolio page, could "Frogland" be misconstrued as anti-French?  🤔

Murphy was an optimist
Zen FTTC 40/10 + Digital Voice   FRITZ!Box 7530
BT technician (Retired)
marcKV
Dabbler
Posts: 16
Registered: ‎26-07-2023

Re: Website flagged as Hate Speech incorrectly on Safeguard

Perhaps, but misconstrued is the correct word. It's a world where all the characters are frogs and is set in the USA. The point still stands. We can't have a system where websites are automatically flagged as inappropriate without a way to manually fix the problem when it is a clear mistake.

I don't even have safeguard turned on, the categories are set to blocked, but the system itself is off. As soon as I disable that hate & intolerance block though, it allows me through to the website.

James30
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
Posts: 422
Thanks: 145
Fixes: 26
Registered: ‎19-04-2023

Re: Website flagged as Hate Speech incorrectly on Safeguard

@marcKV - That's a bit tricky as it's all automatic. You can exclude a site but common knowledge of what triggers it is a hard kept secret or it would be easily bypassed. I would have thought to be foolproof other domains that sound like you would want to be taken into consideration as well as . If your familiar with SPAM filtering it's not just a simple as looking at the words and matching them with a list of hateful words these days. 

 

Perhaps you could create a blank basic HTLM file and see if that flags so you can at least eliminate the content of the page being an issue.

If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
James - Plusnet Sheffield
Plusnet Help Team
marcKV
Dabbler
Posts: 16
Registered: ‎26-07-2023

Re: Website flagged as Hate Speech incorrectly on Safeguard

@James30 Thanks for the reply.


you could create a blank basic HTLM file and see if that flags so you can at least eliminate the content of the page being an issue.

Are you saying it's a process that occurs when visiting the website, ie it is scanned at the point of visiting it, rather than the site being added to a list?
That suggests if I find the problematic word and remove it, it will solve the issue?


If your familiar with SPAM filtering it's not just a simple as looking at the words and matching them with a list of hateful words these days. 


It must be, because there is nothing on that website that is hateful, to even suggest it is absurd.
The only cause can be the words in the project description or titles being present in a list somewhere.

It doesn't seem fair that websites can be blocked based by an automatic process with no way to manually solve the problem. Someone should be able to visit by site and flag it as safe after a manual review when requested.

James30
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
Posts: 422
Thanks: 145
Fixes: 26
Registered: ‎19-04-2023

Re: Website flagged as Hate Speech incorrectly on Safeguard

@marcKV  -  Lets not forget, Safeguard is a parental tool designed to protect children. So something about the site raises an eyebrow not just the content but many other factors like the domain name, even could be IP addresses hosting the site thats triggered it. It's then blocked then parents would get it in the ear from the kids so that the parents can check the site and allow it on the portal so they can access it. The point I'm making is that the workings of Safeguard isn't know and isn't public knowledge and as a parent myself I would rather safeguard be on the side of caution rather than the other way round. This is the spiel about it @ https://www.plus.net/help/broadband/how-to-use-plusnet-safeguard/

 

If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
James - Plusnet Sheffield
Plusnet Help Team
marcKV
Dabbler
Posts: 16
Registered: ‎26-07-2023

Re: Website flagged as Hate Speech incorrectly on Safeguard

@James30 But it is being blocked even if safeguard is turned off.
What you are affectively asking me to do, is any visitor to my site who uses plusnet, must disable hate and intolerance in the safeguard categories, even if safeguard is not enabled. How can I possibly ask someone to do that.
I don't think it is unreasonable for me to point out that safeguard is not working correctly in this matter. If it is flagging me via the IP address due to the hosting, that is also an error in safeguard.
I'm not getting close to fixing this it seems.

Untitled.png

James30
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
Posts: 422
Thanks: 145
Fixes: 26
Registered: ‎19-04-2023

Re: Website flagged as Hate Speech incorrectly on Safeguard

@marcKV I'm sorry my bad. I didn't realise it was happening even when safeguard is off. Off means off so there's something broken here. Just to check then, right now with Safeguard off visiting marckeeling.co.uk, what do you see, can you screenshot it?

If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
James - Plusnet Sheffield
Plusnet Help Team
marcKV
Dabbler
Posts: 16
Registered: ‎26-07-2023

Re: Website flagged as Hate Speech incorrectly on Safeguard

@James30 

If give an error similar to that of having no connection at all.
If I disable the category then it loads fine. 

Untitled.png

MisterW
Superuser
Superuser
Posts: 15,191
Thanks: 5,820
Fixes: 415
Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: Website flagged as Hate Speech incorrectly on Safeguard

AFAIK turning Safeguard off won't take effect until the connection is restarted. Safeguard works by assigning different DNS servers and they only get reassigned on a pppoe connection  establisment

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

James30
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
Posts: 422
Thanks: 145
Fixes: 26
Registered: ‎19-04-2023

Re: Website flagged as Hate Speech incorrectly on Safeguard

@marcKV  - On the face of it, it doesn't look relating to safeguard to me unless there's is some really quirky network issue. I can access it here, look's pretty snazzy I must say. I've seen similar issues accessing a random site like a network level block on your IP address on the webserver. Although the IP's are dynamic and should change, they aren't forced to and yours has been the same for while. Usually I would suggest rebooting the router to get you a new IP assigned but if it hasn't done it yet then I can't see it doing it now. Daft question but can you get on other sites and have you tried another devices on the same network?

 

We could try assigning a static IP? 

If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
James - Plusnet Sheffield
Plusnet Help Team
marcKV
Dabbler
Posts: 16
Registered: ‎26-07-2023

Re: Website flagged as Hate Speech incorrectly on Safeguard

@MisterW
Yeah thanks I am aware of that. Safeguard wasn't never enabled. This started happening about 4 days ago. Safeguard was off, and have always been off, however those three categories are enabled by default.
It was suggested to me by technical support that I disable the catagories to check if somehow safeguard was causing the problem. As soon as I turned the hate and intolerance option off (safeguard still being off) and restarting the modem, the website loaded. I have since experimented with it on or off, but it makes no difference for my particular website.
If hate and intolerance is enabled, it doesn't matter whether safeguard is on or off, the website will not load.
Even if this is fixed, it still doesn't help me unflag it as inappropriate. I have removed the words "frogland" and "disabled" which were used completely without malice, and this hasn't helped either. 

marcKV
Dabbler
Posts: 16
Registered: ‎26-07-2023

Re: Website flagged as Hate Speech incorrectly on Safeguard

@James30 
Yes I have tried on different networks, they work fine.
Plus connecting to a VPN works from the same PC.
If I used the same network on a different device, then it also doesn't work until that option is disabled.

It is definitely Safeguard related at least (maybe a bug ofc) because I have tested it 10-15 times turning "hate and intolerance" options off and on.
The site only loads when that category is disabled (again it doesn't matter whether safeguards main switch is on or off).

The steps I have repeatedly tried:
Safe guard off - Hate and intolerance on - restart modem: Website doesnt load and gives that error
Safeguard off - Hate and intolerance off - restart modem: Website loads
Safeguard on - Hate and intolerance off - restart modem: Website loads
Safeguard on - Hate and intolerance on - restart modem: Website doesnt load and gives that error

I have tried this many times.

I will add that it doesn't seem to affect any other websites for the sake of experiment.
For example adult content can be accessed with the category "pornography" enabled with safeguard turned off. If I turn safeguard on while that category is enabled, then it cannot.

It only seems to be my site that is suffering the issue.


James30
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
Posts: 422
Thanks: 145
Fixes: 26
Registered: ‎19-04-2023

Re: Website flagged as Hate Speech incorrectly on Safeguard

I think for now to simplify things we need to ask the question why when safeguard is off is it having a affect on the websites you access. Just to check you have change any settings on the router/ device relating to DNS address? 

 

Here's the DNS address we give to the router depending on weather it's on or off  - About DNS server and website settings | Help | Plusnet

 

Can you reboot the router again?

 

 

 

If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
James - Plusnet Sheffield
Plusnet Help Team
marcKV
Dabbler
Posts: 16
Registered: ‎26-07-2023

Re: Website flagged as Hate Speech incorrectly on Safeguard

@James30 
I haven't changed anything personally. 

Primary DNS: 212.159.13.52
Secondary DNS: 212.159.13.51

Should I change them to the ones on the link you sent?