Articles about Equality

Mozilla could soon find itself at the center of a new controversy, as it just approved a Firefox extension, called Men Kampf, designed with the sole purpose of replacing so-called "radfem rethoric [sic] with nazi friendly alternatives".

Men Kampf scans the page that the Firefox user visits for any words considered to be linked to feminism -- certainly not radical feminism, as claimed in the description -- and replaces them, on the fly, with said "alternatives". As such, an article about feminism will quickly appear to be one about nazism. The developer behind the extension, Erim Secla, says that it's all "just for fun" in Men Kampf's description. Except that it's not.

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Today is International Women’s Day and in recognition of this Google is celebrating the role women have played, and continue to play, in the world of tech. It's a well-known fact that many technology companies are dominated by men -- as is the case in many industries -- but Google is keen to highlight its own Women Techmakers program.

Set up last year, the program is designed to not only encourage women to enter the male dominated technology sector, but also to promote the visibility of those who are already in place. This month saw the (very quiet) launch of the second Women Techmakers Global Event Series, but today Google wants to speak to the female technology workers of the future.

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What's your gender? For some people it's a simple question -- nothing more than checking one of two boxes. But it can get more complicated than simply indicating that you're male or female. Many people feel that gender is not important and would prefer to keep this information to themselves. This is now a wish that Google respects on Google+.

In fact Google is going far beyond this. Starting today Google+ includes support for an infinite number of gender identifies. So whether you would rather not disclose where you fit onto the gender spectrum, or want to proclaim it outside of the confines of the usual binary options, now you can.

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It's only a few weeks since Tim Cook announced that he is gay and the impact is already starting to be felt. The Apple CEO wrote in Bloomberg Business that "I'm proud to be gay", and his coming out has proved to be inspirational, even in the short time between then and now. Now an anti-discrimination bill in Alabama is to be named after him.

Alabama is in the process of passing a bill that will make it illegal for state employers to discriminate against workers on the basis of their sexuality. Democratic state Representative Patricia Todd is the Alabama's only openly gay lawmaker and she proposed the billing, mentioning Tim Cook's name "in jest".

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US technology companies are setting a benchmark for those in other sectors to reach for when it comes to LGBT equality in the workplace. These are the findings reported in the thirteenth edition of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index. The HRC rates workplaces on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender inclusion and equality, and this year's report shows that there is now greater awareness and understanding of the transgender community.

The index rates companies using a variety of factors including the presence of non-discriminatory policies, the existence of transgender-inclusion healthcare, and whether or not there are guidelines in place to encourage transgender inclusion. This year there are a record number of businesses attaining a 100 percent rating, and 14 of these fall into the hardware, software and data services areas of the tech sector.

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Social networks have long been a domain for trolls, but in more recent times there has been an increasing problem with harassment of women. There have been a number of high-profile cases recently, including #gamergate, where women have found themselves targets of vicious attacks online. Women, Action & the Media (WAM!) is a US non-profit whose aimed is to fight for gender equality in the media, and its latest project involves collaborating with Twitter to help fight harassment and abuse.

The project's aim is to better understand how online persecution can be tackled. WAM! explains that "women of color, queer women, trans women, fat women, and other oppressed groups of women are especially targeted and abused", but the Twitter collaboration is design to help any Twitter users experiencing "gendered harassment".

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The sexuality of people in the public often comes in for scrutiny. Whether we're talking about Michael Stipe coming out at the same time as REM released Monster, Morrissey using Autobiography to give a beautifully tender glimpse into the loves of his life, Ellen DeGeneres revealing her sexual preferences to Oprah Winfrey, or any one of countless other celebrities who chooses to make their sexuality public, where those in the limelight fit onto the sexual spectrum has long been -- and will undoubtedly continue to be -- of endless interest to people.

Writing in Bloomberg Businessweek, Apple CEO Tim Cook, entirely unprompted, has said that he is gay. For many people this will come as no surprise, for most it will be of no consequence, some will take exception to it. But what's interesting is that, in 2014, a man (or woman, for that matter) proclaiming their sexuality, is news. Tim Cook is currently the top trending topic on Twitter.

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Access to fast, reliable Internet empowers people to learn for themselves. It gives them the means to solve their own problems. It eliminates one of the obstacles that stands in the way of the oppressed knowing how others have freed themselves in the past. Unfortunately, we found that low-income areas with the most to gain from access to the world’s knowledge, continue to lag behind in Internet speeds.

On average, states whose populations are made up of people with lower incomes living in rural areas are likely to have the slowest Internet speeds. In order to gain a greater understanding of the role of wealth in regards to Internet speeds, we compared average Internet speeds for all 50 states with several financial factors.

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Emerging from what it describes as an "unexpected leadership transition", Mozilla announces its new CEO, albeit an interim replacement. The vacancy opened up a couple of weeks ago after the departure of Bendan Eich following outrage from developers that someone opposed to gay marriage should be placed at the head of a company. The pitchfork wielding and flaming torch brandishing mob, got their way as Eich "stepped down".

It's not really clear whether he jumped or whether he was pushed -- what is publicly announced is not necessarily representative of what has taken place behind boardroom doors -- but there's now a new man at the top. Announced with the Mozilla Blog, Chris Beard's appointment is apparently something that had been under consideration for some time: "we began exploring the idea of Chris joining the Board of Directors some months ago." Executive Chairwoman Mitchell Baker described Beard as someone who has "been actively involved with Mozilla since before we shipped Firefox 1.0, he’s guided and directed many of our innovative projects, and his vision and sense of Mozilla is equal to anyone’s".

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It has been mere days since Brendan Eich stepped down as CEO of Mozilla. It was one of the shortest-lived tenures in history, but it didn’t have to be that way. I’ll spare you the details -- they have spewed across the internet, ad-nauseum. Suffice to say that his views did not meet with that of the technorati at large.

BetaNews was one of the first sites to run the story about a pair of developers boycotting the browser over a perceived difference in ideals. A firestorm ensued, but also a healthy debate. Until now, I have kept quiet throughout this situation. However with the problems now seemingly resolved, and (perhaps or perhaps not) justice done, then it is time to speak my piece.

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Brendan Eich is no longer the CEO of Mozilla. Effective today, he has stepped down. This news is rather bittersweet for me. While I disagree with Eich's perceived stance on marriage equality, I defend his right to express it. However, I also support the rights of others to boycott and call for his removal.

Today, showed, in some measure, that the Internet and freedom of speech still work as intended. In other words, one person expressed a view, others expressed an opposite view. Brendan Eich's stepping down was not the result of violence or negativity, it was the result of shared ideas and communication. But was his leaving necessary? Mozilla thinks so. Do you?

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Gay marriage is not a gay issue, nor is it liberal or conservative. It is an equality issue, since basic rights of Americans, who happen to be gay, are threatened. As more and more people wake up from the slumber of ignorance and see the light in supporting gay marriage, there are still people that refuse to evolve. You can hate anyone you want, and if you hate gay people, that hate is your burden to live with. Quite frankly, gay people do not need your love or approval, although I'm sure it would be appreciated. What they do need though, is to be treated equally by the government that they live under and pay taxes to.

When people donate money to anti-gay causes, they can sometimes fuel hatred and anti-American values. After all, equal rights are the foundation of the USA. Sadly, the new CEO of Mozilla, Brendan Eich, who was appointed today, allegedly donated $1,000 to support a ban on gay marriage. Two developers, Hampton Catlin and his husband Michael, are boycotting Mozilla as a result.

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