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Racist HP Webcam: Tracks White People Only?

What was apparently initially meant to be a sarcastic video between co-workers has sparked a PR nightmare for HP, as a YouTube video generated a multitude of views and Tweets over the weekend.

At the center of it all is the webcam with motion tracking that is built into new HP computers. The hilarity of it all began when two co-workers were testing the computer at work and stumbled on the fact that the camera was following the “white” co-worker – and not the black one. The co-workers – Wanda Zamen and Desi Cryer – said that they made the video just for the fun of it and did not expect it to cause as much attention as it did.

Cryer could be seen in the video proclaiming “I’m going on record, and I’m sayin’ it: Hewlett-Packard computers are racist.” Towards the end of the video, Cryer also says “I’d welcome responses to why the HP webcam does not pick up negroes.”

HP did end up looking into the matter. HP e-mailed a statement that acknowledged that the webcam “may have issues with contrast recognition in certain lighting situations”. There were tests conducted by various sites that indicated that given the appropriate lighting conditions, the webcam worked just fine.

In another corporate statement, HP also indicated that they were looking into the issue even further: “HP has been informed of a potential issue with facial-tracking software. Consistent with other webcams, proper foreground lighting is required for the product to effectively track any person and their movements. As with all our products, we continue to explore refinements which help to optimize their use.”