racist webcam Youtube user & self-described black man, Desi Cryer, recently uploaded a video titled “Hewlett Packard computers are racist” which demonstrates how his webcam has no problem tracking white faces, but as soon as his “blackness enters the frame, it stopped.”

HP is certainly looking at Desi now. The video has reach over 1.2 million views. HP says that they are looking into the problem and that “The technology we use is built on standard algorithms that measure the difference in intensity of contrast between the eyes and the upper cheek and nose. We believe that the camera might have difficulty “seeing” contrast in conditions where there is insufficient foreground lighting.”

In other words it’s not racist, it’s just difficult for a computer to recognize faces (particularly dark ones) in the dark. Besides if the webcam was racist, wouldn’t it want to keep an eye on him?