The Null Device

Linguistic profiling: An investigation in the US has revealed that landlords discriminate against callers who sound "black" on the telephone. Investigators from a nonprofit housing agency found that "black"-sounding callers' messages are often not returned at all, whereas "white"-sounding callers' calls are typically returned within hours. A study at Stanford University has shown that most Americans can identify the race of a caller with great accuracy, sometimes merely by the sound of how they say "hello".

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