Something odd happened a few weeks ago. A Hong Kong internet surfer using Yahoo as his search engine started to notice that certain searches no longer returned results. A closer examination of the screen revealed that his search engine had switched on its SafeSearch facility. Eager to continue his quest for evidence that Paris Hilton does, sometimes, disrobe, he clicked the SafeSearch button to switch it off and discovered that it was no longer possible to do so.
Quietly and with no explanation, Yahoo has shut the door to anyone using certain parts of its search engine to access anything it classifies as adult content.
'We did not find results for 'sex',' users hoping to find salacious images are being informed. The same goes for 'porn', 'adult' or indeed any word that might produce an image that Yahoo considers obscene. Except for 'obscene', oddly enough. That still returns a mixed bag of images, including a woman in a bra, Robert Mugabe and an amusingly shaped carrot.
It is not only Hong Kong that is affected. Singapore, South Korea and India have also found the door to one of the internet's most popular subject areas shut to their local IP addresses - some more firmly than others.
At least in India there appears to be a reason: a change in the country's Information Technology Act (based on the 150-year-old Section 292 of the Indian Penal Code), which bans publication of pornographic material, has meant the authorities are now able to take action against a wide range of providers, from internet search engines and ISPs to cyber cafes. But why pick on Hong Kong? True, there exists the Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance but that has been in place since 1987 and there has hardly been a clamour from the authorities for it to be used to shut down large parts of the internet.
If Yahoo has a reason, it is keeping it to itself. Asked why Hong Kong had been selected for special treatment, the company says only that when it introduced territory-specific versions of its services, it did so 'keeping user safety and trust a top priority'.