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Ism’s in tech: Sexism, Racism, AgeismNYS CYBERSECURITY CONFERENCE 2019 PRESENTATION
Zeynep Tufekci, a researcher at the University of North Carolina, was trying to
document tear gas use in the Gezi Park protests in Turkey in 2013, the size of her
Google Nexus got in the way.
Tufekci wanted to document what was happening. So she pulled out her phone.
“And as my lungs, eyes and nose burned with the pain of the lachrymatory agent
released from multiple capsules that had fallen around me, I started cursing.” Her
phone was too big. She could not take a picture one-handed – “something I had
seen countless men with larger hands do all the time”.
All Tufekci’s photos from the event were unusable, she wrote, and “for one simple
reason: good smartphones are designed for male hands”.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/feb/23/truth-world-built-for-men-car-crashes
In 2016, Rachael Tatman, a research fellow in linguistics at the
University of Washington, found that Google’s speech-
recognition software was 70% more likely to accurately
recognise male speech.
Another woman called the manufacturer for help when her
Buick’s voice-activated phone system wouldn’t listen to her:
“The guy told me point-blank it wasn’t ever going to work for
me. They told me to get a man to set it up.”
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/feb/23/truth-world-built-for-men-car-crashes
One study of 12 of the most common fitness monitors found
that they underestimated steps during housework by up to
74% and underestimated calories burned during housework
by as much as 34%.
Meanwhile, Fitbit users have complained that the device fails
to account for movement while doing the extremely common
female activity of pushing a stroller.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/feb/23/truth-world-built-for-men-car-crashes
NYC Facial
Detection 0%
accurate
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/blog/making-intelligence-intelligible-dr-rich-caruana/
FACEBOOK IS EVIL
Facebook allowed companies to post job ads only men could see.
Facebook allowed companies to illegally advertise job opportunities, home sales, and credit offers that were only
visible to men, young people, and users in white neighborhoods. Even Facebook’s own job ads posted on the
network screened out older users.
2016 ProPublica investigation found that companies could buy ads that screened out users based on their race,
which is potentially illegal in the context of housing and employment advertising
Facebook continued to let advertisers filter out characteristics linked to other protected groups: women, people
with disabilities, and religious minorities.
FACEBOOK IS EVIL
“Facebook is discriminating against people based upon who they are and
where they live,” Ben Carson, the housing secretary, said in a statement
announcing the lawsuit. “Using a computer to limit a person’s housing
choices can be just as discriminatory as slamming a door in someone’s
face.”https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/28/us/politics/facebook-housing-discrimination.html
ONLINE ADVERTISING IS EVIL
Businesses reportedly bought ads on Facebook to publicize job openings, but targeted them so that no women
who use the platform could see them. The jobs included positions for truck drivers and window
installers, according to the New York Times.
More than 20 consumer advocacy groups filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, alleging that
YouTube has been gathering the personal data of children using their platform and then using this data to target
advertisements, in violation of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act.
ONLINE ADVERTISING IS EVIL #2
In a software-aided investigation, Motherboard found that while YouTube has cracked down on pro-
ISIS material, the video giant leaves neo-Nazi propaganda online for months and sometimes years
at a time.
When Google promises to "curb" extremism on its lucrative video platform, it means nothing more than keeping
advertisers happy.
CIVIL RIGHTS UNDER ATTACK
Drinking (in bars with Patronscan) isn’t good for your health
LEGISLATION
THE FUTURE“The future is already here. It’s just unevenly distributed.” – William Gibson
