Technically Wrong: Sexist Apps, Biased Algorithms, and Other Threats of Toxic Tech

by Sara Wachter-Boettcher

When systems don’t allow users to express their identities, companies end up with data that doesn’t reflect the reality of their users.

In 2012, Uber even published an official blog post bragging about how it can tell when users have had a one-night stand—dubbing them, somewhat grossly, “rides of glory.” (Uber deleted the post a couple years later, when major stories started breaking about its disregard for privacy.)

Dash concludes that, ultimately, the tech industry doesn’t really exist. It’s just in these organizations’ best interests to be seen as “tech.” Take Uber: If it were perceived as a taxi service, or an auto loan financer, it would be part of an industry with existing regulations and expectations (even if those industries have problems, which, well, yeah). But by being labeled “technology”—by being better known as an app you download to your phone, rather than a massively complex system of vehicles and drivers—Uber gets to change the conversation. Instead of discussing the ethics of hiring legions of drivers as “independent contractors” and then selling them high-interest subprime loans to finance the vehicles they need to do their jobs (while aggressively pursuing the driverless technologies that will take away all those jobs), you’re encouraged to marvel at the seamlessness of the experience as you watch a little car icon navigate the streets on its way to your location. Uber’s not a taxi company. It’s superpumped. It’s special.