Technically Wrong

Like a friendly litigator making her case to a jury, narrator Andrea Emmes advances the author's thesis that the tech industry's white male mindset is often tone-deaf to sexual orientation, race, gender, age, disability, and personal tragedy. It's a credible argument and should be mandatory listening for those caught in the rush-hour commute to Silicon Valley. In an affable, clear style, Emmes explains why some app designers are unapologetic about racist stereotypes (Snapchat's Asian caricature morphing filter, for example); why some websites bother collecting information they don't need (gender and title, for example); and why some websites use passive aggressive opt-out messages ("I don't want your newsletter because I'd rather stay uninformed."). You could ask Siri these questions, but first you might want to ask her why all digital assistants are female. R.W.S. � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine