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The Racist Laptop?

By Talib Qizilbash 23 December 2009 4 Comments
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Invisible man? A man in the US demonstrates how his "blackness" causes a laptop webcam to ignore him.

Can a laptop be racist?

That’s what a man in Texas claims – with tongue in cheek.

The young camping-store salesman named Desi has even made a video (see below) with his colleague Wanda to prove how a “state-of-the-art” HP laptop with its built-in video camera discriminates against black people. “I think my blackness is interfering with the computer’s ability to follow me,” he says. The video camera installed in the computer in question has face-tracking software and is supposed to move and adjust as Desi moves around in front of it. It doesn’t.

But it seems to work fine with “White Wanda.”

Watching the video, you will learn many things:

  1. What laptop not to buy if you are dark skinned.
  2. Desi, with his easy on-air style and voice that sounds remarkably similar to that of Will Smith, is a natural in front of the camera – even though this HP webcam acted as if he didn’t exist. His charm, which adds humour to the shocking video, could land him a TV gig: perhaps a tech show pointing out the worst gadgets on the market, or at least the ones that fail to live up to their ‘fair’ claims.
  3. How to get someone fired – or at least demoted to the mail room. Because if HP has not done it yet, they should, because claiming that the webcam on their MediaSmart laptop has face-tracking software is a bit inaccurate when it won’t recognise the faces of, probably, billions of people worldwide.
  4. The importance of diversity in quality assurance departments.

HP has responded to the criticism of its product with a entry on its Voodoo Blog, which basically blames the camera’s apathy towards Desi on lighting:

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. While we work on this, take a look here for more information on the impact of lighting on facial tracking software, and how to optimize your webcam experience.

Oh. Is that statement supposed to help?

Who would you axe: a lead programmer, a quality assurance leader, a product manager or a project manager?

Perhaps the name HP will become a verb for discriminatory practices? (He’ll never get a job at that Texas company because the recruiting manager will HP him.)

Or will someone find a use for this selective technology? Maybe an ‘exclusive,’ old-school country club could use this software at their front gates?

Click the play arrow below to watch Desi and Wanda’s YouTube video and decide for yourself how badly HP has messed up.


Talib Qizilbash has been freelance writing since 2003. He joined Newsline in 2006, working as both a writer and editor, and has won a national APNS award for his writing. He is currently the magazine’s online editor. Find him on twitter @tqizilbash.


Find more articles by Talib Qizilbash
The opinions expressed in this article and the views shared by readers in the comment forum below do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance or policies of Newsline.

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4 Comments »

  • karachi-ite said:

    What are you doing covering this? You’re not a tech magazine.

    When will you be covering some real news please?

    # 23 December 2009 at 7:08 pm
  • Online Editor said:

    karachi-ite: Sorry you did not enjoy this post. Sadly, not every post of ours will interest every reader. And if you are familiar with the print version of the magazine, you will know that we are a news magazine with a wide scope: politics, business, social issues, fashion, sports, movies, art and more, including sometimes, technology. Technology is a topic Newsline will cover more in the future as it is a major part of our lives.

    However, labelling this video and its issues as only a technology story misses the point. There is also a business story here involving a major global company that failed to recognise a basic social reality: we do not all look the same. It provides a cautionary tale for businesses. So the video highlights a very “real” and big issue and does it in an effective and accessible way. Moreover, this is not a well-known story, making our small bit of coverage, hopefully, more valuable to readers. Moreover, just because this story first came to light via YouTube does not make it any less “real.”

    But thank you for your comment; I forgot to file the story under technology. I’ll do that now.

    # 23 December 2009 at 8:37 pm
  • Online Editor said:

    It has come to light that the two creators of the “HP computers are racist” video do not actually work in an electronics store as reported. Desi and Wanda who created the video, which has now surpassed 1.5 million views on YouTube, work in a camping store (this post has been edited to reflect this). They have spoken about the video here, supposedly to clarify that they do not really believe an inanimate object can be racist and that HP did not design the computer to be racist. Oh my. The unseen power of a sarcastic video – or the power of HP and geeks everywhere to spin the issue to put the video duo on the defensive?
    It also turns out that HP’s claims about poor lighting are correct. Many independent sources have tested the camera and have determined that dark-skinned people do need to ensure good foreground lighting. Of course, as the original video shows, fair-skinned people have it a bit easier.

    # 29 December 2009 at 12:06 am
  • Steven Lewis said:

    Your topic Newsline Blog Archive “The Racist Laptop?” was interesting when I found it on Monday . . . Thank you for your contribution….

    # 8 March 2010 at 8:41 pm