LA Wants to Eliminate "Master and Slave"

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LA County wants to eliminate computer 'master' and 'slave' labels
Wednesday, November 26, 2003

(11-26) 17:53 PST LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Los Angeles County has asked vendors of computer and video equipment to work on eliminating the terms "master and slave" from the gear because it may be considered offensive. "Based on the cultural diversity and sensitivity of Los Angeles County, this is not an acceptable identification label," according to an e-mail sent Nov. 18 to the county's 1,000 or so vendors of such electronic equipment. The memo asks manufacturers, suppliers and contractors to change or remove any labels on components "that could be interpreted as discriminatory or offensive in nature."

"We got a note back from IBM saying thank you for bringing this to our attention and we'll take a look at this," said Joe Sandoval, who wrote the memo as division manager of purchasing and contract services for the county Internal Services Department. Other responses have been less appreciative. Sandoval said Wednesday he received angry e-mails after the memo hit the news. "There are a lot of people that really have taken offense to this," he said. "I've gotten a couple of them that have just said, 'You're an idiot. You should be fired."'

The terms master and slave are used when one device or procedure controls another. A computer controlling a printer is a master-slave process. The term is used in computer hardware, networking and in various electronic devices. In May, a black employee of the Probation Department filed a discrimination complaint with the county Office of Affirmative Action Compliance after noticing that a videotaping machine had the words "master" and "slave." "This individual felt that it was offensive and inappropriate ... given the experiences that this country has gone through in respect to slavery," office director Dennis A. Tafoya said.

"We didn't find that it rose to the level of employment discrimination," Tafoya said. "However, we did take seriously this person's concern." "I think we constantly need to be conscious of these issues," Tafoya said. "We can't sit here with the blinders on ... and say it's been OK for 30 years, so let's continue doing it."

The county's 39 departments were told to identify equipment with offensive labels, a process that is continuing, and vendors were sent an e-mail indicating that the county will decide in the future how to handle the issue of offensive terminology. "We're not telling manufacturers that you need to change this. We're looking at a strategy of how we can put some corrective measures," Tafoya said, adding that there was no timeline for making a decision. But Sandoval said the critics misunderstand and the county is making a suggestion, not trying to dictate political correctness. It has no plans to ban equipment labeled with "master" and "slave," he added.

"Knowing that it's an industry standard, there's no way that I'm going to stop buying that equipment," Sandoval said. "I think there's zero odds of that. I don't think it's feasible," he said of a ban. "We're one of the largest government purchasers around but we just make up just a small ratio of what is purchased nationwide from an IBM, from a Gateway, from an Oracle." Meantime, the county has come up with its own solution: embossing tape. Regarding the offending videotape machine label, "we simply put tape over it and labeled it primary and secondary," Tafoya said.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...053EST0142.DTL

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