By Didi Rankovic - reclaimthenet.org
The rest of the world may be busy figuring out how to handle the global health, human, and economic crisis caused by the coronavirus outbreak – but Google’s determination to hint at what those humans should and should not be typing into their phones using the Gboard keyboard is not taking a back seat here.
Controlling the message is a very serious business, and Google knows it: but how exactly do you do it with a keyboard app for mobile devices?
When there’s a will there’s a way, as they say. One of the features of most virtual keyboards, including Gboard, is to help Android and iOS users by “predicting” and/or “autocorrecting” their input. That’s all good – until users discover the keyboard is actively “resisting” their attempt to type a certain word.
This means that the app will stop suggesting or correcting the spelling of words, and even attempts to “swype” them on the screen.
In the case of Google’s Gboard, it’s not a bug, it’s a feature.
Hong Kong-based researcher Jane Manchun Wong shared on Twitter that the list now includes several references to coronavirus (i.e., COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus).: Read More: reclaimthenet.org