- Title: Alphabet 'should welcome audit' on racial equity - tech activist
- Date: 31st May 2022
- Summary: CATSKILLS, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (MAY 31, 2022) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF OPEN MIC, MICHAEL CONNOR, SAYING: "There are workers. The Alphabet Workers Union has endorsed it. There are investors. This is brought on behalf of investors and shareholders who want to see it done. What's important to know is that this is not just unique to Alphabet. Apple shareholders approved by a majority vote only in April for, to conduct a civil rights audit. Even Amazon, even Amazon, which is not known for being very friendly with its hourly workers, has agreed to conduct a civil rights, a racial equity audit on the impact of its practices on a million hourly workers in the United States. And that's going to be conducted by a former U.S. attorney general, Loretta Lynch. Alphabet seems determined to chart a course just for itself, and it is putting itself, unfortunately, in a unique class." MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (RECENT - MAY 16, 2022) (REUTERS) GOOGLE SIGNAGE ON WALL AN INTERIOR COURTYARD OR ATRIUM CALLED “CAMPFIRE CORNER†EMPLOYEE INSIDE “CAMPFIRE CORNER†VARIOUS OF EMPTY DESKS AWAITING INSTALLATION OF COMPUTERS AND MONITORS VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF CAMPUS BUILDINGS CATSKILLS, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (MAY 31, 2022) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF OPEN MIC,  MICHAEL CONNOR, SAYING: "There are a number of problems. Ok? Alphabet's facial recognition technology has been shown to be biased against people of color. Its search engine has been shown, there have been demonstrated, examples of the search engine exhibiting bias and importantly, especially with a platform like YouTube. YouTube is being used by many third parties. We're not always suggesting that Alphabet is, is guilty of of racial bias, but there are people using its products. And so when you look at the human rights issues, it's really, really important that you get to the bottom of it.  And importantly, also, the impact on employees. Google has, it's estimated, a couple of years ago they had 120,000 employees, but they have even more than that. They have about 133,000 contract employees. So that's 250,000 employees, many of whom are very unhappy about the way Google and Alphabet treat them based on race and and gender in a whole variety of categories."
- Embargoed: 14th June 2022 23:03
- Keywords: Alphabet Google audit tech
- Location: VARIOUS
- City: VARIOUS
- Country: USA
- Topics: Information Technologies / Computer Sciences,Science,United States
- Reuters ID: LVA004192431052022RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Ahead of Wednesday's (June 1) annual meeting for Alphabet shareholders, activists are coming together to push for an audit into the tech giant's human rights record.
In collaboration with workers at Google's parent company, the activists are asking for an inquiry into racial equity, both throughout the workforce itself and in the market as a result of the company's products.
They have also sent letters to Google's leadership asking for support.
"All the shareholder proposal asks, Is that an independent third party examiner come in and look at the evidence in an organized manner and try to help the company understand what its products are doing to people," Michael Connor, one of the activists, said in an interview Tuesday (May 31) with Reuters.
"We think this is something the companies should welcome, not oppose," he added.
Connor went on to describe how the company's products create racial bias.
"Alphabet's facial recognition technology has been shown to be biased against people of color... there have been examples of the search engine exhibiting bias and importantly, especially with a platform like YouTube," he said.
Earlier this year, a lawsuit was filed accusing Google of systemic racial bias against Black employees. The suit said the search engine company steers Black employees to lower-level jobs, pays them less and denies them opportunities to advance because of their race.
The plaintiff, April Curley, also said the Alphabet Inc. unit subjected Black employees to a hostile work environment, including by often requiring they show identification or be questioned by security at its Mountain View, California campus.
For Connor, the only way forward is transparency.
"If Alphabet were having a problem with its revenue, they'd do an audit and they'd call in outside consultants. If they were having a problem with their supply chain, they'd call in consultants and they'd do an audit," he said. "You have to wonder why they won't do it when it comes to human rights and the impact of their products and services on people all around the world."
(Production by: Roselle Chen, Joan Soley and Dan Fastenberg) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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