Dear Radsafers,
This is a bit off topic but has implications for the language we use and what we discuss. Today I got a message form our corporate IT-Security which monitors all incoming emails for viruses and inappropriate language that radsafe-digest V1 #121 had been blocked because it contained certain language that was considered inappropriate use on the corporate email system. There also was a comment that a lot of material on a radiation protection list serv was off topic. After I asked what language on a professional radiation protection list server could be considered in appropriate I was informed that the word "sperm" had occurred a number of times and that its occurrence had exceeded the threshhold for flagging as inappropriate. After some review of past radsafe topics I concluded that the blocked message probably discussed the question regarding the prostate implantation of I-125 seeds and the that the reply probably involved a discussion of dose to the sperm from such an implant. I also explained that we discuss related topics, and not only those directly having to do with radiation protection. This seems to have satisfied the corporate IT Security people who will now unblock the message. (In the mean time, I'll just have to read it when I get home.)
I am writing to inquire how many others of you receiving radsafe at work had similar messages blocked and how widespread such blocking is. Our company is rather sensitive to "inappropriate" langauage because last year someone was spending a lot of company time acessing so-called "adult" sites while at work.
Kjell Johansen
Point Beach Nuclear Plant
kjell.johansen@wepco.com