Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Koogle, a Kosher Google

A kosher version of Google called Koogle, has been developed in Israel for Hebrew-speaking Orthodox Jews. Devoutly religious Jews are restricted when surfing the web in case they should come across sexually explicit material.

However, Koogle, a new ‘kosher’ Hebrew-language search engine, could be set to change all of that. Yossi Altman developed the tool, which omits religiously objectionable material, and has gained approval from Orthodox rabbis.

The search engine links to Israeli news and shopping sites but the results are filtered to exclude items deemed unsuitable.



"This is a kosher alternative for ultra-Orthodox Jews so that they may surf the internet,” Yossi Altman said.

“The site was developed in part at the encouragement of rabbis who sought a solution to the needs of ultra-Orthodox Jews to browse the web particularly for vital services,” he added.

Nothing can be posted on Saturdays, the Jewish Sabbath, as Jews are banned from all types of work and business activity. If Koogle users attempt to search for an item or post a message on the Sabbath, it crashes and won’t let you.

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