Master and Slave terms to be 'banned' in LA

[shri]

From Yahoo!

All I can say is ... *idiots*

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Los Angeles officials have asked that manufacturers, suppliers and contractors stop using the terms "master" and "slave" on computer equipment, saying such terms are unacceptable and offensive.



The request -- which has some suppliers furious and others busy re-labeling components -- came after an unidentified worker spotted a videotape machine carrying devices labeled "master" and "slave" and filed a discrimination complaint with the county's Office of Affirmative Action Compliance.


In the computer industry, "master" and "slave" are used to refer to primary and secondary hard disk drives. The terms are also used in other industries.


"Based on the cultural diversity and sensitivity of Los Angeles County, this is not an acceptable identification label," Joe Sandoval, division manager of purchasing and contract services, said in a memo sent to County vendors.


"We would request that each manufacturer, supplier and contractor review, identify and remove/change any identification or labeling of equipment components that could be interpreted as discriminatory or offensive in nature," Sandoval said in the memo, which was distributed last week and made available to Reuters.


The memo did not include any suggestions for alternative labels.


Dennis Tafoya, director of the affirmative action office, said in a separate memo that an "exhaustive search" had been undertaken to find all such labels and replace them with more "appropriate" ones. A form was sent to all departments to identify equipment carrying the labels "master" and "slave" or any other offensive terms.


Faced with an avalanche of complaints from vendors and the general public, Sandoval told Reuters in an interview that his memo was intended as "nothing more than a request" and not an ultimatum or policy change.


"I do understand that this term has been an industry standard for years and years and this is nothing more than a plea to vendors to see what they can do," he said. "It appears that some folks have taken this a little too literally."


Sandoval said that he had already rejected a suggestion that the county stop buying all equipment carrying the "master" and "slave" labels and had no intention of enforcing a ban on such terms with suppliers.


"But we are culturally sensitive and we have 90,000 employees," he said. "We have to take these things seriously."


Sandoval added that in addition to the e-mails he's received "telling me how stupid I am and how I should be fired" he has gotten a positive response from some companies willing to reexamine their labels.


In June, the Los Angeles city council unanimously passed a law requiring that any companies doing business with the city disclose profits they may have made from slavery in the 19th Century. In 2000, the council supported federal legislation seeking reparations for descendants of slaves.

[tjlegg]

*heh heh*
How many dollars did the HK government waste harassing the Fetish Fashion crowd to try and eliminate "master and slave" from Hong Kong?

[kombuchakid]

We wrote recently about Los Angeles officials who were attempting to ban the terms "master" and "slave" from computer equipment. One concerned reader has written in to complain about some "glaring errors" in the piece.

"Error number one: AC/DC would humiliate bisexuals, not heterosexuals. And error number two: a device which connects two male plugs is known as a gender bender, not a gender mender."

Leaving aside the fact that we were joking about AC/DC, we double-checked our sex-changing definition. According to Eric Raymond's New Hacker's Dictionary, a gender mender is "also called gender bender, gender blender, sex changer, and even homosexual adapter; however, there appears to be some confusion as to whether a male homosexual adapter has pins on both sides (is doubly male) or sockets on both sides (connects two males)."

So there.

http://columns.scmp.com/colart/bspace/ZZZMQ7EWXND.html