HP Face-Tracking Webcams Don't Recognize Black People

The technology is tracking the distance between regions, it must see that the white balance and luminosity ranges are set at at a threshold of about 20%, using histogram functions they are making comparisons between frames for any changes in the object, by not seeing the boundary layers of the face the bit mappings are thrown off. in order to track objects. you can turn on a light facing yourself this will illuminate the surface and allow the object to be tracked properly.

HP doesn't like black people

They sure missed an excellent opportunity to appeal to diverse populations. They could have been cool and included some kind of adjustment, perhaps flip the contrast? They had a chance to move forward but literally fell on their faces. Congrats to Current for putting this out for us to talk about, its good practice.

"standard algorithms"...difficult "seeing"... "insufficient foreground lighting." I mean, even the statement sounds racist.

Waaaaa! This reminds me of those old Dracula movies where you never see his image in mirrors. Way to go HP!

I want to work with that guy. And poor him buying one for Christmas. :(

I will say what everyone else seems to be afraid to say. Its not the camera its the people who program the software. they failed to realize that if the testing subjects they used were white. any tweaking or adjustments made would be virtualy useless considering the fact that most of the people being watched are of color.It is much easier for the camera to compute distances from ear to nose on a white face whereas dark skin tends to blend in thus not allowing the camera to accurately tabulate where the nose ends and the lips begin. This is the same mentality that allowed the white house party crashers to be successful. the fact remains that no black couple no matter how eloquently dressed would have been allowed to attend without proper verification. Perhaps it is true we all look alike.

"Yo. These webcams are racist!"

Unfortunately, it's all based on light and contrast. Probably something the developers forgot to test. Think about it this way, what if they adjusted it the other way, and white faces reflected TOO MUCH light, and so it couldn't track them? - Would people still be calling it racist? No.
It's a stupid double standard. We're all different. Accept it, and enjoy the fact that we're not all the same boring look-a-likes.

lol the camera's not strong enough to recognize the face because his darker skin means that the camera needs to be able to see a broader range of contrast, inorder to recognize the facial features on a black man compared to a white man, because darker colors (even on skin) do not reflect enough light for a camera to easily recognize a difference in color in the areas its programed to look. where as lighter colors reflect more light making it easier for the cameras to pick up.

at least that how i understand it. but i could be totally wrong. i hope hp fixes their racist ass computer... you would think there would be one black guy at least in their office saying "hey... guys... thissssss doesnt seem to work out for me"

or maybe they only employ the whitest black people ever. either way...

racist ass computer XP funny video.

HP isn't colour blind HP is blinded by colour.....

HP gave up on cameras three years ago. My guess is they will give up on web cams next.

"as soon as my blackness enters the frame"

Love this guy's sense of humour.

It's 'cuz we've got a Black president! ;)

Now that is a classic hidden racist fuck up, if I ever saw one. Short sighted developers showing their true colors.

Yo, I'ma let you finish, but COMPAQ are the most RACIST computers of *ALL*TIME.

wow... I'm calling HP a racist!! nah! i'm just kidding!! =P

this is actually funny and we have to thank KTBradford, for doing such a wonderful thing! Her research solved the problem, way to go KTB!!

a friend of mine had himself made up to look like e-z-e on Halloween and the camera wouldn't track his face either. it was a great job too... i'll have to post some pics...a friend of mine does theater make up and she really made him look like he was black. but no, the camera wouldnt track him, or my ringwraith costume. or another friend (who happens to actually be black) who was also at the party. this reminds me that there was also a touch screen recently discovered to be inadvertently discriminatory, just in the fact that it wouldn't register "touches" from ladies fingernails.

His blackness is interfering. That's my new favourite comment of the day :)

hun believe you got to have this cam in some descent lighting to pick-up your face...lol

lol that's awful! I hope HP gets on that asap!

So basically they are saying.. turn the light's up.. we cant see you no'more.. i lol'd thoroughly

"insufficient foreground lighting" is the new term for "a black person" apparently

"brian, according to security cameras only white people are travelling, shopping over the holidays..."

What about all others ? Don't we come in different shades? Hp has one racist "mother board"

This suggests then, that HP only employ white people to test their products.... interesting!

Too funny.

Lol!! HP is short for Honky People!!

Lol!! It's more human than we think. What happens when you walk in certain stores or approach certain non-Blacks....they look without looking! Their head never moves but te eyes become laser guided!!

haha opps!

yes, I remember that.......

Somebody in R&D is getting laid off.......

Wow. life imitates art. There was a "better off ted" episode about this.

http://www.sidereel.com/Better_Off_Ted/_season/1/_episode/4/_search

even the cameras b racist

HA! I knew it all along! HP Computers are in-the-closet bigots!!! >=)

Haha, at least he had a sense of humor about it.

This is too, too funny. Obviously it has to do with light, etc., but funny that no one at HP recognized this as a problem before shipping.

Interesting...i'm sure this wasnt intentional on hp's part tho...which makes it pretty dam funny....i would love to try some experiments on this.