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The Almighty Buck Games

Report: Blizzard Once Slapped With 'Misogyny Tax' (vice.com) 161

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Kotaku: A cybersecurity company whose security researcher had once been harassed by Blizzard employees at a hacking conference charged the game developer a 50 percent "misogyny tax" when it sought a quote for security services, according to a new report from Waypoint. The researcher, Emily Mitchell, told Waypoint that she approached the Blizzard booth during the annual Black Hat USA cybersecurity conference in 2015 to see if the major video game company had any open positions. Her shirt, which referenced [to] a security process known as "penetration testing," prompted two unnamed Blizzard employees to ask her questions laced with misogyny and sexual double entendre. "One of them asked me when was the last time I was personally penetrated, if I liked being penetrated, and how often I got penetrated," Mitchell said. "I was furious and felt humiliated, so I took the free swag and left."

Two years later, Blizzard approached cybersecurity firm Sagitta HPC (now known as Terahash) to request a quote on one of Sagitta HPC's password-cracking boxes. Mitchell, who was Sagitta HPC's chief operating officer at the time, saw Blizzard's request and immediately remembered what occurred at Black Hat USA 2015. After learning of the incident from Mitchell, Sagitta HPC founder and chief executive officer Jeremi M. Gosney responded to Blizzard's inquiry with a lengthy message decrying her treatment at the hands of Blizzard's employees. "[R]ather than dismiss you and tell you that we will not do business with you, we'd like to give Blizzard the opportunity to redeem themselves," Gosney wrote. (He eventually shared the email on Twitter with Blizzard's name redacted.) "We are committed to combating inequality, and I am calling on Blizzard to do the same. As you may or may not know, today is International Women's Day. And in honor of this day, we are attaching a few conditions if Blizzard wishes to do business with us."

These conditions included a 50 percent "misogyny tax" on any business Sagitta HPC did with Blizzard (to be used as a donation to three different organizations devoted to support girls and women in the tech industry), Blizzard becoming a Gold-level sponsor of the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing conference, and a formal letter of apology from Blizzard executives to Mitchell in which they'd further dedicate themselves to supporting equality for women and sexual harassment training. [...] In 2017, the organizers of Black Hat USA, the Las Vegas hacking conference at which Mitchell was originally accosted, promised her that they would not allow Blizzard back as a sponsor for future events. As far as Kotaku can tell from historical information, neither Blizzard nor Activision have had a presence at the cybersecurity event since the year Blizzard staff harassed Mitchell.
"Once this incident was reported to us, the Company began an investigation, promptly removed all unauthorized cameras, and notified the authorities," Activision Blizzard told Waypoint. "The authorities conducted a thorough investigation, with the full cooperation of the Company. As soon as the authorities and Company identified the perpetrator, he was terminated for his abhorrent conduct. The Company provided crisis counselors to employees, onsite and virtually, and increased security."
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Report: Blizzard Once Slapped With 'Misogyny Tax'

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  • Anecdotes (Score:4, Insightful)

    by quantaman ( 517394 ) on Friday July 30, 2021 @06:38PM (#61640303)

    The plural of anecdotes is data... and the data showing that something was (is?) seriously wrong with Blizzard's culture is mounting.

    Oh, and the summary is kinda broken. That quote about the cameras isn't related to Black Hat USA, it's related to this:

    In the wake of this publicity, Waypoint also learned of a 2018 incident in which an Activision IT worker set up a camera in one of the Eden Prairie, Minnesota campus’ unisex bathrooms and recorded employees using the toilet. That worker, Tony Ray Nixon, was fired by Activision and ultimately pled guilty to an “Interference with Privacy” charge.

    • Re:Anecdotes (Score:5, Informative)

      by Xenographic ( 557057 ) on Friday July 30, 2021 @07:50PM (#61640505) Journal

      > The plural of anecdotes is data...

      Your quote is backwards, you're missing a "not" in there ("the plural of anecdote is *not* data"). The related term "anecdata" is a pejorative word, because it's an unreliable reasoning process.

      I won't say anything about Blizzard because I have no idea whether these allegations are true or false and would instead reserve judgement until all sides present their evidence in court.

      • > The plural of anecdotes is data...

        Your quote is backwards, you're missing a "not" in there ("the plural of anecdote is *not* data"). The related term "anecdata" is a pejorative word, because it's an unreliable reasoning process.

        I won't say anything about Blizzard because I have no idea whether these allegations are true or false and would instead reserve judgement until all sides present their evidence in court.

        Good point... though realistically, multiple anecdotes coming from independent sources do start becoming data. There's been enough documented instances, enough former employees endorsing the narrative, that I'd say there's fairly strong evidence of a real problem.

      • by hawk ( 1151 )

        Harumph.

        that's it, no sociology degree for you.

        Next you'll probably claim that the scientific method is oppressive and needs to go . . .

  • Wait, what??? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by IonOtter ( 629215 )

    Okay, hold up...

    "Once this incident was reported to us, the Company began an investigation, promptly removed all unauthorized cameras, and notified the authorities," Activision Blizzard told Waypoint. "The authorities conducted a thorough investigation, with the full cooperation of the Company. As soon as the authorities and Company identified the perpetrator, he was terminated for his abhorrent conduct. The Company provided crisis counselors to employees, onsite and virtually, and increased security."

    Unaut

    • Re:Wait, what??? (Score:4, Informative)

      by fahrbot-bot ( 874524 ) on Friday July 30, 2021 @07:23PM (#61640445)

      Okay, hold up...

      "Once this incident was reported to us, the Company began an investigation, promptly removed all unauthorized cameras, and notified the authorities," Activision Blizzard told Waypoint.

      Unauthorized cameras? Crisis counsellors??? What does that have to do with the original story, and where is this from?

      Either OP messed up during the copy-paste, or this story got a lot more terrifying...

      More terrifying. From TFA:

      In the wake of this publicity, Waypoint also learned of a 2018 incident in which an Activision IT worker set up a camera in one of the Eden Prairie, Minnesota campus’ unisex bathrooms and recorded employees using the toilet. That worker, Tony Ray Nixon, was fired by Activision and ultimately pled guilty to an “Interference with Privacy” charge.

  • Oh, forgot.. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Finallyjoined!!! ( 1158431 ) on Friday July 30, 2021 @06:46PM (#61640333)

    Mitchell said. "I was furious and felt humiliated, so I took the free swag and left."

    Not humiliated enough to avoid taking the freebies with Blizzard's logo. Did she then put them in a darkened room to avoid looking at them?

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      I couldn't help but to notice that as well... took the free swag... If she was so "offended" by this, she wouldn't have taken the swag...

    • Re:Oh, forgot.. (Score:5, Interesting)

      by ravenshrike ( 808508 ) on Friday July 30, 2021 @07:28PM (#61640457)

      I want to see the shirt, because 20 bucks said the shirt itself was a double entendre.

      • Re:Oh, forgot.. (Score:5, Interesting)

        by mykro76 ( 1137341 ) on Saturday July 31, 2021 @02:54AM (#61641083)
        Here is the shirt in question: https://www.facebook.com/Secur... [facebook.com]
      • Re: Oh, forgot.. (Score:5, Insightful)

        by getuid() ( 1305889 ) on Saturday July 31, 2021 @04:49AM (#61641179)

        A fellow slashdotter in a thread below posted this link [facebook.com] claiming it's the T-shirt in question.

        If that's true, that's prerty much a 180 on the angle on this story.

        If that's not true, it at least shows how important it is to actually see the T-shirt in question before further judgment.

    • Sounds like you are signing up for your future well-deserved misogyny tax with that comment.

  • by t0qer ( 230538 )

    If I'm looking for a job, I usually dress for the part. Wearing a T-Shirt that says "Penetration Testing" just seems a tad bit of an innuendo. She could have worn something like, "Pentesting" or "OWASP" or "MetaSploit" but instead wore something implicitly innuendish.

    Seems like someone was trying to find a problem.

    • by chill ( 34294 )

      The summary reads:

      Her shirt, which referenced [to] a security process known as...

      That doesn't mean it verbatim said "penetration testing", though their use of quotes around that phrase was confusing.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Opportunist ( 166417 )

      Is that the geek version of "She's wearing it, so she's asking for it"?

    • by mamba-mamba ( 445365 ) on Friday July 30, 2021 @07:56PM (#61640515)

      You are part of the problem. But you COULD be part of the solution. Wouldn't that be better?

    • by sconeu ( 64226 ) on Friday July 30, 2021 @08:12PM (#61640557) Homepage Journal

      If I'm looking for a job, I usually dress for the part. Wearing a T-Shirt that says "Penetration Testing" just seems a tad bit of an innuendo.

      And at Black Hat, that IS dressing for the part.

      • by ezdiy ( 2717051 ) on Saturday July 31, 2021 @10:32AM (#61641623)

        The shirt said "when was the last time YOU were PENETRATED?", the innuendo laid in open deliberately. I agree that it is indeed dressing for part, as infosec confs are full of juvenile folks like this. The shirt worked better than expected though, not only it's attention grabbing IRL, but with good enough spin on the internet as well (the heart of the "issue" here is just that of self-promotion).

      • by t0qer ( 230538 )

        I disagree, just gonna copy paste some stuff I wrote above...

        Also seeing the exact T-Shirt she wore bolstered my point even further. There was one comment that's currently +5 where the commenter says "Oh everyone dresses like that!" Admittedly I haven't been to a security conference since the late 90's defcon when Captain Crunch was trying to lure little boys to his room, but the last I saw was there was a wide array of attire, so saying everyone just wears T-shirts is bunk. I saw folks dressed like Kurt Co

  • Bad Jokes... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 30, 2021 @08:11PM (#61640555)

    Sex is a need for almost every human. Yes, there are some people that will tell you they don't need it, they are extremely, extremely rare. They are called incels, and most folks don't want to be an incel.

    I get that she may not appreciate a stupid joke about sex, but to label everyone that jokes about sex a bad person, is ridiculous. For all of these folks to label anyone that makes bad jokes about sex as bad people is insane.

    I have a whole lot of female friends that can joke about sex just like anyone else. If I were the type to get offended at stupid shit, some of the stuff that has come out the mouths of females I know is just as bad or even worse than the stuff that comes out of males I know.

    Lets get real here.... I've had my dick grabbed so many times by women, I lost count. They thought it was fun on the dance floor to reach down my pants. They thought it was fun walking alone. They thought they were being edgy. I don't think they are bad people even though I didn't want to hook up with them. Every one of those relationships worked out just fine, these women weren't "lost causes." I chalked it up to human nature... go figure, they were horny. OMG. Not one of them, nor I wanted to make a culture war about it.

    So again, why are bad sex jokes now equivalent to violence? Is that because we have less violence today that we ever did as a population and everyone lost perspective? Is it something else?

    • Re:Bad Jokes... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by theshowmecanuck ( 703852 ) on Friday July 30, 2021 @08:30PM (#61640603) Journal
      Witch hunting is the de rigueur sport.
    • Incel means involuntary celibate, so it doesn't mean they don't need it, it means they can't get it.
    • Re:Bad Jokes... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by quantaman ( 517394 ) on Friday July 30, 2021 @11:57PM (#61640907)

      Sex is a need for almost every human. Yes, there are some people that will tell you they don't need it, they are extremely, extremely rare. They are called incels, and most folks don't want to be an incel.

      I get that she may not appreciate a stupid joke about sex, but to label everyone that jokes about sex a bad person, is ridiculous. For all of these folks to label anyone that makes bad jokes about sex as bad people is insane.

      I have a whole lot of female friends that can joke about sex just like anyone else. If I were the type to get offended at stupid shit, some of the stuff that has come out the mouths of females I know is just as bad or even worse than the stuff that comes out of males I know.

      Lets get real here.... I've had my dick grabbed so many times by women, I lost count. They thought it was fun on the dance floor to reach down my pants. They thought it was fun walking alone. They thought they were being edgy. I don't think they are bad people even though I didn't want to hook up with them. Every one of those relationships worked out just fine, these women weren't "lost causes." I chalked it up to human nature... go figure, they were horny. OMG. Not one of them, nor I wanted to make a culture war about it.

      So again, why are bad sex jokes now equivalent to violence? Is that because we have less violence today that we ever did as a population and everyone lost perspective? Is it something else?

      There's a difference between people getting handsy on the dance floor and harassing people looking for a job.

      • There's a difference between people getting handsy on the dance floor and harassing people looking for a job.

        Normally I'd agree, but that depends.

        As an AC pointed out, we don't know everything, for example what the T-shirt actually looked like. It's called "pentesting". You usually don't say "penetration testing". There's th real.possibility that the T-shirt itself was a tongue-in-cheek play of words humorising a sexual topic. If that's the case, then the Blizzard people maybe just tried to queue in in the joke and failed - yes, that's stupid, but it has a totally different taste than what's presented here.

        And if

        • Here is the shirt in question: https://www.facebook.com/Secur... [facebook.com]
          • Re: Bad Jokes... (Score:5, Insightful)

            by getuid() ( 1305889 ) on Saturday July 31, 2021 @04:43AM (#61641171)

            Is this a joke?

            Because if it isn't, then this is T shirt has written "go ahead, it's ok to engage in dirty sex jokes with me" written in bold letters all over it.

            And the question the girl in question felt volated about, "when was the last time you were penetrated" is, literally, on the back of the shirt.

            You don't get to wear THAT and get all snowflakey when someone queues in on it.

        • Normally I'd agree, but that depends.

          No.

          Dancing is an activity people engage in while considering romantic activity with another person. Attending an industry event is not the same thing, even remotely.

          On a date, people test boundaries and explore possibilities consensually - not so much at industry events while manning their employers booth, representing their employer.

          • On a date, people test boundaries and explore possibilities consensually - not so much at industry events while manning their employers booth, representing their employer.

            By the same metrics, on an industry event people also don't wear T-shirts that say "when was the last time you were PENETRATED".

            And no, grabbing cocks on a dance floor does not qualify as "testing boundaries". Some people qualify that also as full-fledged harassment. Others don't.

            And no tits, vaginas, cocks or other body parts were grabbed during this encounter, as far as related. Someone took the queue on a (arguably pretty cheeky) joke with sexual undertone. The correct answer when overstepping that line

    • by dnaumov ( 453672 )

      Yes, there are some people that will tell you they don't need it, they are extremely, extremely rare. They are called incels, and most folks don't want to be an incel.

      What exactly do you think the "in" part of "incel" means?

    • I get that she may not appreciate a stupid joke about sex, but to label everyone that jokes about sex a bad person, is ridiculous.

      Except no one is doing that and we both know it.

      Did she say "no one should joke about sex"?

      No, she did not. Just keep your sex jokes between you and your buddies, out of professional contexts and certainly not with random strangers.

      • Why doesn't the same metric apply to her T-shirt?

        • Eh?

          First, what T-shirt? Someone posted a facebook link I can't see without cookies or JS enabled (no the hell way I'm enabling facebook). I've no idea what it says or whether it's actually this person.

          I'm assuming you believe her T-shirt is a sex joke? You know if something's a poor idea then it's not a good idea to double down and do it more just because someone else did. Why do I have to explain the sort of thing you try to teach 5 year olds to a grown adult?

          • If you haven't seen the shirt, you're hardly fit to discuss. Bye.

            • If a man gets accused of sexual harassment and you bend over backwards in innocent until proven guilty. And yet you credulously swallow an anonymously posted, unverified Facebook link.

              • I'm not "bending", over backwards or anywhere else. It's called common sense.

                The Facebook T-shirt seems plausible. Show me a more plausible version, and I'll rethink my conclusion.

                • The Facebook T-shirt seems plausible.

                  I think it's plausible you sexually harass co workers. See how that works?

                  • I think it's plausible you sexually harass co workers. See how that works?

                    I think it's plausible that you cry "Wolf! Harassment! Misogyny!"/ whenever you need attention.

                    Yeah, I think I'm getting the hang of it.

                    • yes I understand, you believe in guilty on accusation if the accusation is of the right sort. Ironically it's what you rail against when the accusation is of the wrong sort.

                    • How do you figure?

                      There's only one accusation standing, the one of misogyny. And the facts I know of don't add up. So I choose not to side with it.

                    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
                    • But the facts do add up. You're looking for excuses to ignore them, so you take a non-fact, an anonymous poster claiming the victim was wearing a T-shirt that made a dirty joke

                      If you weren't a headless chicken you'd probably use some of the brain nature normally entrust you with...

                      But things being as they are, I see the need to walk you through it.

                      First, I made it entirely clear that I don't rely on that post actually being the T-shirt she wore. It's just one possibility.

                      Second, it's the only T-shirt with "penetration" and "security" that I know of that was presented in this context; whether it's the real one or not is not important for the accusation itself. What is important is

                • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      There are many more people who are asexual than you think. Also incel is short for "involuntary celibate", i.e. they very much do want sex but can't get it.

      As for jokes, it's an industry conference where people come to network and find business opportunities. She was there to look for a job. I'm fairly sure they wouldn't have asked guys walking up if they were regularly penetrated either.

    • I have a whole lot of female friends that can joke about sex just like anyone else.

      So you have friends as your example. Now go out to complete strangers in a professional capacity and joke about sex, let us know how far you get and what your employer thinks of you when they lose a contract as a result.

      If you can't tell the difference *YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM*.

  • Is not getting laid. Those booth dudes probably paid it for a long time.
  • A google image search returns articles saying she died.
  • Yeah (Score:4, Insightful)

    by argStyopa ( 232550 ) on Saturday July 31, 2021 @07:25AM (#61641391) Journal

    I'm not endorsing the way these idiots went "full seventh grader" in what should have been a professional setting, but are we pretending that there's NO invited double entendre wearing a shirt that says "PENETRATION TESTER", really?

  • by Voice of satan ( 1553177 ) on Saturday July 31, 2021 @09:58AM (#61641583)

    Would that have happened in nearly any other country, the woman would have laughed or at worst told the guys their jokes were not funny. If you feel humiliated by a sex joke you are a puritan and need to see a therapist to interact with human beings. Why when i do read a stupid article like this one do they always come from United States !?

    And "misogyny" is an actual word which exists in the dictionary: it is the HATRED of women. Lewd jokes are not misogyny. Saying "we don't want to hire women here" would be misogyny. But it is not what happened.

    That remind me of the other stupid non event about a certain Sarah (not) Sharp and a USB thumb joke.

    Slightly related, i once met a guy who had the ridiculous job title of "penetration engineer". Complete with the silly business card. He was extremely amused a lots of lewd jokes were exchanged in good mood.

    • I find it interesting that you find "penetration engineer" a ridiculous job title. I'm guessing you don't talk with a lot of folks in physical or cyber security much.

      > If you feel humiliated by a sex joke you are a puritan...

      Okay, let's clear the air here.

      The employees were (a) representing their company (b) at a convention, and (c) were talking within earshot of ... potential employees, customers (and potential customers), reporters, their bosses....

      It simply does not matter whether the person reportin

  • All these leaks, reports, and suits all happening right as Blizzard is starting to get desperate with their rapid failure of WoW?

    Come on, they are leaking these stories themselves to try and make WoW cool again. It is just too perfect. WoW has a pasty nerd vibe that scares away most of the public but also predominantly women.

    So they launch a secret campaign to replace that image with the exact opposite: WoW is not programed by nerds, but Hugh Hefner-esk frat boys who have orgies in the office and drawers fu

    • You lost me here. Women are some how going to want to go work at a frat house as opposed to working with nerds? Sounds like a lose lose either way, except maybe around the nerds they may get farther because nerds are more socially inept then sexism douche bags.

      • Look at the Clinton Sex Scandal Impeachment. Bill Clinton is one of the most popular presidents in modern history, especially by women. Women love him.

        And his approval rating went up significantly during his impeachment trials.

  • I've never been to Black Con but I imagine it's suppose to be something like Def Con. Why is a video game company even here? I haven't been to a big convention in quite a while, so maybe I'm just confusing what I thought was more of a technical conference where people listened to presenters show off some new concepts they were working on or otherwise interesting security stuff.

    Seems silly for a video game company to have a booth at a security show. Shrugs. IDK.

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