Although the problem became widely known only Thursday, John Pappas III, who runs the Web log San Diego Johnny, said he noticed the offensive grouping in October. The science-fiction fan said he came across it while looking to buy the

Speaking of offense easily taken, I recall drafting a federal court opinion on an employment discrimination case. One of the (black) plaintiff's beefs was that a manual describing some computer stuff (I'm tech-illiterate, sorry) used "master" and "slave" terminology for different servers or somesuch.

Reaching a bit, no?

(She lost. Actually she seemed to be fired for doing a better job than the people around her, so that they ganged up on her & got her pushed out; but that is not yet a violation of federal law.)

Many Similar Items modules base their results on what was also bought by someone buying the original item not on keywords. So perhaps someone bought Planet of the Apes and also Friends thus when I went to it...Friends stuff was displayed.

To assume that this is a racial issue is wrong with the evidence presented. You simply do not know if the function uses keywords or if it uses other items purchased. Without that knowledge you should not jump to the conclusion you did.