Hewlett Packard's Voodoo Blog added a post Sunday responding to a claim that the facial-tracking software on their MediaSmart PC was “racist” because it failed to track the movements of an African American user. The claim surfaced in a YouTube video (below) posted December 10, in which a man calling himself Desi demonstrates the tracking software's inability to follow him onscreen. In the video, which he claims was shot using the computer's Web cam with the tracking sofware enabled, the camera fails to follow him when he moves, but has no trouble following a Caucasian co-worker when she is onscreen.
The post on HP's blog, authored by Tony “Frosty” Welch, lead social media strategist for HP PSG, asserts that HP is investigating the claim. “The technology we use is built on standard algorithms that measure the difference in intensity of contrast between the eyes and the upper cheek and nose. We believe that the camera might have difficulty 'seeing' contrast in conditions where there is insufficient foreground lighting,” he writes, adding, “We thank Desi, and the people who have seen and commented on his video, for bringing this subject to our attention.”
This is a great video. I would have to praise Desi for taking a higher perspective about the “racist” computer. However, I would add that it isn’t so much the computer that is racist as the Caucasian programmers that developed the face recognition software.
I say we take to streets and picket HP headquarters in Boise until this wrong is right.
White Wanda, we are leaving it up to you to lead the charge.