- Recent attempts by some members of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) to eliminate programming terms with racist histories (eg “slave”, “master”, “blacklist”) have been rebuffed.
- The IETF is a global 7,000 volunteer organization that helped create modern internet tools (eg e-mail, streaming) and set programming terminology.
- Following last year’s Black Lives Matter protests, some members suggested that racially-sensitive terms with neutral words such as “primary” or “blocklist”.
- However, these suggestions sparked heated debates and strong opposition, leading the organization to abandon changes.
