http://news.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/storage/0,39020366,39118127,00.htm
Political correctness puts disk drives in a spin
Matt Loney <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
ZDNet UK
November 26, 2003, 15:50 GMT
Disk drives may the latest victim of political correctness. According to a
memo apparently sent out by the County of Los Angeles, the standard
designation used for connecting two disk drives to a single IDE port, which
entails setting one drive as a "master" and the second as a "slave" drive,
is an example of equipment labelling that may be "construed as offensive or
defamatory in nature".
According to the memo, which was apparently written by Joe Sandoval,
division manager for purchasing and contract services in the Internal
Services Department at the County of Los Angeles, and posted on urban
legends Web site snopes.com, use of the terms "master" and "slave" is not
acceptable as an identification label.
"We would request that each manufacturer, supplier and contractor review,
identify and remove/change any identification or labelling of equipment or
components thereof that could be interpreted as discriminatory or offensive
in nature before such equipment is sold or otherwise provided to any County
department," said Sadoval in the memo.
The sentiments of the memo's author may be laudable: "The County of Los
Angeles actively promotes and is committed to ensure a work environment that
is free from any discriminatory influence, be it actual or perceived," he
wrote. But removing the universally adopted terms from drives may cause more
problems than it solves, say manufacturers, as users -- including those
employed by LA County -- would find the settings confusing if the labels
changed.
One major drive manufacturer's response was of incredulity: "I thought the
British were prim and proper," said a spokeswoman for the company, who asked
not to be identified, "but what's up with these Americans? It's not a
Schwarzenegger change is it? You'd have to be barking mad to do this." The
spokeswoman said it is highly unlikely that drive manufacturers would take
the request seriously.
IT director Andres Tomlin was similarly unimpressed. "This is another
ludicrous example of "political correctness," he said. "This is political
point-scoring and nothing to do with the reality of everyday life."
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