The Top Tech Stories Most Impactful to People of Color in 2016

The Top Tech Stories Most Impactful to People of Color in 2016


President Obama Keynotes at SXSW

President Obama, arguably the most tech-embracing POTUS to date, kicked off SXSW 2016 with a keynote address. The president spoke of using technology for civic engagement and the conflict between Apple and the government over the mandated backdoor entry of the iPhone of a suspected terrorist.

Twitter CEO Takes Questions and Criticism at Black Engineers’ Event

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey took the stage for an interview at the National Society of Black Engineer’s 42nd Annual Convention in Boston. He faced a series of tough questions from the moderator and audience and spoke about diversifying Twitter.

 

Stacy Brown-Philpot Promoted to TaskRabbit CEO

With her promotion to CEO from COO at TaskRabbit this year, Brown-Philpot is now one of the most powerful (and few) black executives in Silicon Valley and in the technology industry.

 

African American-led Virtual Reality Company Lands $23 Million in Funding

2016 could be dubbed the “Year of Virtual/Augmented Reality.” Guy Primus is one of the few African Americans (perhaps the only) heading up a virtual reality content studio. He is the co-founder of The Virtual Reality Studio in Los Angeles.

Former AG Eric Holder Will Help Airbnb with Anti-Discrimination Policy

Under fire for not adequately addressing racist practices on its platform, Airbnb enlisted former Attorney General and President Obama appointee Eric Holder to help craft an anti-discrimination policy.

 

ACLU Says Facial Recognition Tech is Racially Biased

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), along with 51 other civil rights and social justice organizations, sent a letter to the principal deputy assistant attorney general at the U.S. Department of Justice expressing concerns over facial recognition technology and the inaccurate identification of African Americans in criminal investigations.


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