Discovered ages ago by evolution. Works in the dark, too, leading to the demise of many a rodent.
/figures/viper.jpg)
Posted on 12/22/2009 12:25:36 PM PST by DCurts
Hewlett-Packard is investigating a claim that Webcams built into its PCs are incapable of tracking the facial movements of black individuals and only function properly when Caucasians or people of other lighter-skinned races are in the frame.
The probe was prompted by a YouTube video in which a black man named Desi demonstrates the problem. The camera, which is designed to follow individuals' head movements, fails to track Desi as he moves in and out of the picture.
But when Desi's white co-worker, Wanda, enters the scene the camera follows her. "As soon as my blackness enters the frame, it stopped," says Desi. "Black Desi gets in there, no face recognition anymore buddy," says Desi.
"I'm going on the record and I'm saying it, Hewlett-Packard computers are racist," adds Desi, who says he's using an HP Media Smart PC.
HP officials posted a blog Sunday indicating that the company is taking the claim seriously and investigating if technical issues are behind the problem.
"Everything we do is focused on ensuring that we provide a high-quality experience for all our customers, who are ethnically diverse and work around the world. That's why when issues surface, we take them seriously and work hard to understand the root causes," said HP social media strategist Tony "Frosty" Welch.
The official implied that HP's Web cams may, indeed, have difficult tracking black individuals' faces.
"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 the camera might have difficulty 'seeing' contrast in conditions where there is insufficient foreground lighting," said Welch.
"We are working with our partners to learn more," said Welch.
Beyond a possible political backlash by African Americans, the glitch could also hurt HP sales in some hot emerging markets, such as India, where PC users tend to have skin tones that are darker than those of individuals of European descent.
Still, investors largely shrugged off the news, as HP shares were up 1.1%, to $52.56, in afternoon trading Tuesday.
>>But when Desi’s white co-worker, Wanda, enters the scene the camera follows her. “As soon as my blackness enters the frame, it stopped,” says Desi. “Black Desi gets in there, no face recognition anymore buddy,” says Desi.<<
I’m calling shenanigans on the basis that there’s no such thing as a white chick named Wanda.
-PJ
BTW, ABC's "Better off Ted" is one of the best shows on TV.
ROTFLMAO!!
Who says cammie don’t work?
Funny video! Certainly has a different spin that the written article.
I thought the guy had a great sense of humor about the whole thing!
It's only racist black people who still use terms like "high yellow" to describe black people of a lighter shade. And yes they used this to describe Barack last year (and I seem to recall the subject coming up in Spike Lee's films).
Caucasians -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caucasian_race
The concept of a Caucasian race is highly controversial today. It is rejected by many academics and political activists who view any system of categorizing humanity based on physical type as an obsolete 19th century racism,[5] and human genome studies have shown that there is no single and simple genetic definition equivalent to “Caucasian”.
The concept of a Caucasian race or Varietas Caucasia was developed around 1800 by Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, a German scientist and classical anthropologist.[7][7] Blumenbach named it after the peoples of the Caucasus (from the Caucasus region), whom he considered to be the archetype for the grouping.[8] He based his classification of the Caucasian race primarily on craniology...
The Supreme Court in United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind (1923) decided that Asian Indians – unlike Europeans and Middle Easterners – were Caucasian, but were not white...
End racism now and abandon this quack-scientific term for white people.
Sue him for slander.
Put him up against a battery test of 8 different webcam manufacturers to prove that only HP's cameras are singling him out.
Also walk some other black men through the studio (with identical lighting to what he has at home) and see if they are likewise rejected.
The thought did cross my mind.
Or turn on a desklamp at his computer to make sure that he is properly lit.
Low light results in grain and poor picture quality regardless of skin tone.
Where would you find one like that? At a convenience store?
It isn't inanimate. It automatically moves/focuses in response to human movement (except reportedly "his" movements).
It works for both ends of the spectrum. TV studios don’t want people wearing solid white either.
How's about a fish...
Exactly. The eye may be able to see white on white, but a camera cannot. If a very pale person were to sit in front of this HP computer with a very bright light shining on them from behind the camera, the software probably wouldn’t work for them either.
i stand corrected.
is anything that moves in response to something else an “animate object”?
if so, then is there such a thing as an inanimate object?
A rock is an inanimate object (unless maybe you throw it).
A windup monkey playing cymbals is animated when it has been wound up.
I saw the video and thought he was joking.
Discovered ages ago by evolution. Works in the dark, too, leading to the demise of many a rodent.
It has long been known to science that photons discriminate against whites. That's why more of them come back when you shine a light on a white person.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.