LOS ANGELES, California (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.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Anyone else think this is a bit ott, even if it was only a sugesstion?

 

way ott, how can a machine be offended by discrimination? they'll have to ban s&m activities too or make them rename them

 

Yet another case of Political Correctness gone mad...

 

The BBC news article on this suggested that the labels had been replaced by "primary" and "secondary". To me, this adds confusion. Master and slave describes a relationship where the slave is dependent on the master, e.g. an LDAP cluster. Primary and secondary, to me anyway, describes a redundant setup.

 

[img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

 

Way ott, it's not as if master drives get coloured white and slave drives are coloured black.

 

Reading that, I thought it was a pi$$take, I was waiting for the punchline!


Maybe 'master' and 'slave' should be changed to 'Bush' and 'Blair'

 

LOL

 

Naah that's muppet and puppet

 

lol Why do the Yanks keep doing things like this? Next, the colours 'black' and 'white' will need new names, 'cos those words are deemed too offensive. Then, we'll die on the next zebra crossing (courtesy of Hitch Hiker ).

 

Now been replaced with "Pimp" & "Me Biaaatch"

 

quote "lol Why do the Yanks keep doing things like this? Next, the colours 'black' and 'white' will need new names,"

exactly, this is getting ridiculous, my wife works in school & they can't use the name blackboard any more...
some cafes you can't order a black coffee, its a coffee without milk.

SO my big question is: if you a PC nutter & want to buy a black car, what colour do you tell the garage salesman over the phone then ??

I believe it really is that simple to sum this load of PC sh1te up!!

I also used to own a white renault, so am I allowed to say "white" or have I offended anyone ?? We can't eradicate a basic word from the world like "black" due to some peoples ignorance & colour descrimination. Can anyone tell me if the muslim language has a word for black then ??

shunty

 

ha ha!

If you want to order a car in black you have to quote the hexidecimal value #000000

 

That would be Arabic then. Do you speak the Christian language (Hebrew)?

 

carl, you are a perfect example of what I am talking about.

I put "the muslim language" as I know there are different slants/variants of it as one of my mates is a muslim, I was generalising!!
I took this from a quick google:

"Allah is the name for God used in various Muslim languages. When speaking in those languages it is right to say Allah when referring to God, the supreme being."

This mate of mine is sick of the PC crew (obviously like you) who are making it so hard for people of different faiths to get on with there lives, because you are putting them so much in the spotlight, that people (especially in the workplace) are worrying how to talk or answer questions in case they offend different faiths.

If someone asks me if I'm British, I answer yes. If I was a PC **** then I would probably say NO, I'm English. I judge by the person NOT the faith.

shunty