Democrats Introduce Bill Requiring Tech Companies To Check Algorithms For Bias

11th April 2019 ~ mcequality

Machine learning and artificial intelligence already powers a deceptively wide sweep of crucial processes and tools like facial recognition, self-driving cars, ad targeting, customer service, content moderation, policing, hiring, and even war. It’s a huge list, and sometimes it’s fun to sit back and marvel at how different all those uses are.

Exactly how those decisions are made and whether or not they’re fair, however, is often opaque or unknowable. That problem has led lawmakers to this attempt to pry open the “black box.”

The new bill would task the Federal Trade Commission with crafting regulations making companies conduct “impact assessments” of automated decision systems to assess the decision making systems and training data “for impacts on accuracy, fairness, bias, discrimination, privacy and security.”

via Democrats Introduce Bill Requiring Tech Companies To Check Algorithms For Bias

Queerbaiting – exploitation or a sign of progress? – BBC News

9th April 2019 ~ mcequality

Ariana Grande stands accused of manipulating her gay fans by suggesting in one of her songs that she may be bisexual. So what is so-called queerbaiting?
Grande’s new song, a collaboration with friend Victoria Monét called Monopoly, claimed the number one spot on the iTunes chart 24 hours after its release.
But a particular lyric, in which Grande sings of liking “women and men” has added scrutiny to the customary buzz that now follows the American singer.
Some fans have celebrated it as an expression of bisexuality. Others, however, have levelled charges of queerbaiting, which is the practice of using hints of sexual ambiguity to tease an audience.

via Queerbaiting – exploitation or a sign of progress? – BBC News

Why UK child poverty targets won’t be met – BBC News

9th April 2019 ~ mcequality

If someone asked you what poverty was, you might think about how far someone’s pay packet goes. Can they afford their household bills? Can they ever go on holiday?
But rather than looking at how someone is making ends meet, the main way poverty is assessed is by using a relative measure – “relative poverty”.
It’s calculated by taking the median income in the country – that’s the midpoint where half of the working population earn more than that amount and half earn less. It was £569 a week in 2018.

via Why UK child poverty targets won’t be met – BBC News

New Jersey Judge John F. Russo, Jr. Suspended

8th April 2019 ~ mcequality

A New Jersey judge with some worthless opinions on sexual assault prevention faces a three month suspension after allegedly asking a woman seeking a restraining order if she “closed her legs” in order to prevent an assault, among other abuses of authority.

At a May 2016 hearing, in which an unnamed woman appeared in court hoping to get a restraining order against a man she claimed sexually assaulted her, threatened her life, and made “inappropriate comments” to their child, Ocean County, New Jersey superior court judge John F. Russo, Jr. reportedly had the following condescending and absolutely wrong things to say:

via New Jersey Judge John F. Russo, Jr. Suspended

The pressure to be beautiful in Bangladesh – BBC News

8th April 2019 ~ mcequality

“As women we are often compelled to portray our beautiful selves,” says Habiba Nowrose, a 29-year-old photographer documenting the pressures on women in Bangladesh to be attractive.
“In that path to avail beauty we are made to strip off our individuality, stories and traumas.”
“We become anonymous even to ourselves and our identities remain concealed.”
The women in Habiba’s photos look bright and colourful but their faces are entirely covered, representing a loss of the inner self even though outwardly the women have made great efforts to look beautiful.

via The pressure to be beautiful in Bangladesh – BBC News

Public sex banned in two New Orleans gay bars investigation

7th April 2019 ~ mcequality

Two New Orleans leather bars known for their cruising scenes have been hit in recent months with charges, fines, and a shutdown in sexual activity (which is barred in public venues by Louisiana State Laws). Some have assumed that the impositions on Phoenix and Rawhide 2010 have been politically motivated, perhaps the result of a homophobic witch hunt (“an attack on one of us is an attack on all us,” read a message posted by Phoenix management on the bar’s Facebook in February), but a recent article in New Orleans LGBTQ magazine Ambush paints a more nuanced picture of investigations arising from direct complaints that are the result of community in-fighting and sexual discrimination.

via Public sex banned in two New Orleans gay bars investigation

Inheritance tax loopholes allowing super-rich to pay lower rates | Business | The Guardian

7th April 2019 ~ mcequality

The UK’s super-rich pay half the rate of inheritance tax paid by the merely very rich, according to an analysis of HMRC data that throws fresh focus on how billionaires’ advisers use a “kitbag” of tricks to reduce heirs’ tax bills.

Estates worth £10m or more paid an average of 10% tax to the exchequer in the 2015-16 tax year compared with an average 20% tax paid by estates worth £2m-£3m, according to data released by HMRC following a freedom of information request by asset manager Canada Life.

The law states that estates should pay 40% tax on assets above £325,000 – or above £450,000 if the family home is given to children or grandchildren. But Neil Jones, the market development manager at Canada Life, said the richest of the rich often did not pay anywhere near that rate because they had access to “a myriad of potential solutions in an adviser’s kitbag to help mitigate IHT [inheritance tax]”.

via Inheritance tax loopholes allowing super-rich to pay lower rates | Business | The Guardian

Gender pay gap figures: debunking the myths | World news | The Guardian

7th April 2019 ~ mcequality

Thousands of companies have filed their gender pay gap figures, revealing men are paid, on average, more than women in the majority of British businesses.

Despite the results, myths and misconceptions about the gender pay gap persist. We’ve pulled together some of the most common myths to help you navigate the pay gap deniers.

via Gender pay gap figures: debunking the myths | World news | The Guardian

Hospital Accused of Secretly Recording 1,800 Women During Intimate Procedures Is Sued by 131 Patients

6th April 2019 ~ mcequality

ast Friday, 81 women filed a lawsuit against a San Diego hospital for allegedly recording them during intimate medical procedures without their knowledge or consent. Women were filmed during Caesarean births, birth complications, treatment after a miscarriage, and other operations, according to the lawsuit. On Thursday, 50 additional women joined the complaint against Sharp Grossmont Hospital.

“The addition of 50 plaintiffs to the lawsuit demonstrates that Sharp’s misconduct affected a significant number of women in a deep and harmful way,” Allison H. Goddard, their attorney, told Gizmodo in an email. “We expect to add more plaintiffs in the near future, since many women are just learning they were secretly recorded by Sharp. Sharp could have, but did not, inform the women directly about the secret recordings, so we will continue to work very hard to make sure that every woman affected is aware of her legal rights.”

via Hospital Accused of Secretly Recording 1,800 Women During Intimate Procedures Is Sued by 131 Patients