LA officials call for end to master/slave labels

Offensive drive

By Ashlee Vance in Chicago • Get more from this author

Posted in Bootnotes, 26th November 2003 18:37 GMT

Understand how application security is evolving

The computing world's venerable master/slave naming convention has come under fire by Los Angeles county officials who charge that this type of product description is offensive.

A discrimination complaint has been filed with the county's Office of Affirmative Action Compliance after one county worker saw a video recording device with the "slave" and "master" tags, according to Reuters. The complaint was enough to call county officials into action, asking vendors to re-label their gear.

"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 and obtained by Reuters.

"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.

Sandoval has received some emails from angry technophiles suggesting that he be fired for his sweeping renaming proposal. The worker, however, maintains that he was not handing down an ultimatum for change but rather a suggestion that vendors see what they can do.

And all this time we thought the master/slave connection had its roots in the world of whips and chains -a notion supported by the dog collar-wearing admins.

In related news, Intel has called for server chief Mike Fister to change his name. ®