I feel like the librarian I am when I read these lists.  So much room for stupidity.

Some stories from my past (This learning is from the 90’s before any of Elon’s twenty somethings were born.):

1. I ran the Canadian Business and Current Affairs (CBCA) indexes and databases.  We got a call on our helpline that the databases were down for a client and we couldn’t see any reason.  After some research, we determined that their child-safe services had blocked ‘affairs’ as a stop word so the entire service was blocked.
2. From another client, they asked us why they couldn’t get into their own website and see our databases.  Again, you guessed it, they were from County of Middlesex.
3. Another subscriber called to say they couldn’t download any PDF’s from our databases, and indeed the issue was more widespread than that.  Again, it was the filter.  I have some issues with filters blocking so-called bad content, but that’s the client’s choice. However, Boolean word boundaries should be employed by the more sophisticated engines.  It may be less important to block all magna cum laude grads and authors.  But blocking documents is a little too broad. D’ya think?
4. I also recall the hullaboo when someone in the GW Bush administration made ‘abortion’ a stop word along with ‘climate change’ on government web site search engines.  It took an outcry to make the content available again.  This time, the evil ones have learned and are just taking it down completely.

As library folk we need to be ever vigilant about how bad actors are using the tools we create.

As President Trump seeks to purge the federal government of “woke” initiatives, agencies have flagged hundreds of words to limit or avoid, according to a compilation of government documents.