HP Webcams Aren’t Racist, Just Their Algorithms

Over the weekend a kind of funny, kind of disturbing video surfaced on YouTube. The video showcased Desi, an African-American man and his white co-worker Wanda, playing around with the face-tracking software in a HP webcam. If you’re unfamiliar with the technology, it’s basically supposed to follow your face no matter where you move. If you move closer, the camera should zoom out. If you move away, it should zoom in. Move to the left or the right and the camera should pan to follow.

That’s how it should work in theory, but when Desi steps in front of the camera, there’s no movement. I mean Desi’s moving, he’s damn near doing the snake to try and get some panning action from the camera, but there’s no response. It’s almost like the digital version of Ralph Ellison’s “Invisible Man”. Now when Wanda, barely inches in front of the camera, it springs to life. She moves, it moves like an excited puppy happy to see it’s owner. Desi sneaks in the frame and again the camera goes dead.

This goes on a few more times, until finally Desi declares the webcam racist and drops the ironic twist — he brought one for Christmas for him and his wife! The video comes off as funny because of the earnest yet playful manner in which Desi and Wanda handle the subject matter. So much so, that I was ready to write this off as a joke until I saw this statement from HP’s Voodoo Blog this afternoon. Written by Community Manager, Tony “Frosty” Welch and titled “Customer Feedback is Important To Us”, the entry thanks Desi for bringing this to HP’s attention and explains the situation as follows:

The technology we use is built on standard algorithms that measure the difference in intensity of contrast between the eyes and the upper cheek and nose. We believe that the camera might have difficulty “seeing” contrast in conditions where there is insufficient foreground lighting. While we work on this, take a look here for more information on the impact of lighting on facial tracking software, and how to optimize your webcam experience: http://bit.ly/7HsZHD.

Okay, so the webcam can’t see the difference between a dark-skinned persons eyes, high cheekbones, and noses unless we’re in a well-lit setting. I don’t know if I’d buy it. Wanda and Desi looked to be in a pretty well lit area. And the overlying question remains, why in the hell would you let a product like this go to market when there’s a huge flaw in the system? And if you check out the link in the statement, the webcam tutorial still shots are done using a yellow smiley face doll. There’s a note on the lighting situation, but I think it would have been a smart move on HP’s part to show customers just how bright the light has to be to get my chocolate face to register on their product.

I think HP should be sending Desi and Wanda some serious HP gift certificates. If someone that was a little more militant in their delivery and thinking had made this video, HP would have a literal crapstorm on their hands — the kind that makes people exchange their HP holiday gifts for another brand of computer.