DEMS PUT SPOTLIGHT ON TECH DIVERSITY

Democrats are turning up the spotlight on issues involving race and Silicon Valley.

A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Wednesday held a hearing about diversity in the tech industry, giving Democrats a forum to air their broader concerns about the role companies can play in perpetuating racial and even gender discrimination.

Lawmakers have expressed concerns about the lack of diversity at tech companies, the use of facial recognition technology, discriminatory ads, the lack of rules for handling sensitive race data and how biased algorithms can lead to discrimination.

“Tools like algorithms are being used to make decisions, like who gets a job or a loan, that deeply affect people’s lives,” House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) and Consumer Protection and Commerce Subcommittee Chairwoman Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), who chaired the hearing, said in a joint statement. “Yet designers of these technologies often don’t take into consideration the full diversity of America,” they said. “As a result, their products often have biased results that lead to discriminatory outcomes.”

Pallone in a memo to the committee this week raised concerns that algorithms — the guidelines computers use to perform certain tasks — can “perpetuate historic bias.”

Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC, a witness at the hearing, was one of more than 40 advocacy groups that recently signed onto a letter urging Congress to prioritize civil rights in the privacy bill debate.