A 25-year-old story of how 'xxx' domain filters collapsed under Middlesex University
krishnan · x · 2026-09-15
The author recalls how his elite Indian institute banned all domains containing 'xxx' or 'sex' in the early internet era. He emailed the professor daily for exceptions: Middlesex University, then Essex, then Sussex — before the filter was quietly removed on day five. His point: blanket bans never worked then, and 25+ years later institutions still haven't learned, as seen in bans on AI tools and YouTube.
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