Reddit's ousted Ellen Pao abandons Silicon Valley sexism sueball

Reddit's ousted interim CEO, Ellen Pao, has dropped her appeal over a lost gender discrimination suit she brought against a Silicon Valley venture capital firm. Pao was fired by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) in 2012, more than five months after she had sued the firm for gender discrimination. The firm stated Pao was …

[Anonymous Coward]

Interesting last paragraph

I am surprised that the judge allowed that level of jury-rigging. Did her council contested that and if so what was the answer?

[John H Woods]

Re: Interesting last paragraph

That shocked me too. What's the next step in juror selection, asking people if they might possibly find for the plaintiff, and rejecting anyone who says yes?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Interesting last paragraph

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peremptory_challenge

[graeme leggett]

Re: Interesting last paragraph

See "strike for cause" surely.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Interesting last paragraph

Would you want a bunch of Apple fanbois on the jury, deciding if Android infringes Apple's rounded images patent? The judge made a good call to purge the jury of anyone who might be prejudiced.

[John H Woods]

Re: Interesting last paragraph

"Would you want a bunch of Apple fanbois on the jury, deciding if Android infringes Apple's rounded images patent?" -- AC

No, I'd want a representative sample of the population. That could easily include one or more 'fanbois' and/or one or more Apple sceptics. If you are going to outright chose your jury you'd be better off with a non-jury trial informed by bunch of hand-picked experts; if you are doing a jury trial you need to make sure that your jury represents the population at large. The more 'selection' that is allowed, the more chance the randomly chosen sample will deviate significantly from the make-up of the population. In fact, that is why preemptory challenge was abolished in the UK by the 1988 Criminal Justice Act.

[Ben Liddicott]

Re: Interesting last paragraph

That's just bad maths. A sample of only twelve will often deviate quite widely from a fair sample in any direction.

That's the point of the peremptory challenge, and why it should be restored.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Interesting last paragraph

"what is left is 12 (?) randomly selected individuals with unknown bias levels."

I did not say the 12 would be in any way indicative of whatever a "fair sample" is. Jurors are selected randomly from the rolls, and get queued up (no idea what if any criteria). As a matter of principle it seems, lawyers seem to each use their allotment of 20 every time, preferring the next 12 in the randomly selected group that is queued which will have "unknown bias levels".

They will have unknown biases because no one will have the opportunity to discover them.

There is no math involved to make my statement one of absolute truth.

You should perhaps learn to read before demonstrating that you can't.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Interesting last paragraph

Downvoting a post does not magically ,ake the post wrong. If you think the facts as stated are in error, or the conclusion, grow balls and explain why you believe it to be so?

[gnasher729]

Re: Interesting last paragraph

What "rounded images" patent? Are you talking about the Bill Atkinson patent that allowed having view with rounded corners are arbitrary shapes to be drawn efficiently? Which IMO was a very well-deserved patent, easily worked around (in a slightly less efficient way), and completely irrelevant today with modern graphics hardware.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Interesting last paragraph

I expect her own lawyer also threw out any potential juror who expressed a disbelief that sexism existed in "tech".

The idea of having a jury is to judge on the evidence and facts as presented, not make assumptions or draw conclusions based on pre-conceived beliefs.

[Richard 26]

Re: Interesting last paragraph

"I am surprised that the judge allowed that level of jury-rigging"

<Shrug>

I always take things that one of the parties or their lawyer's claims with a healthy dose of skepticism, particularly when they are on the losing side. It's rather like listening to a post match interview without having seen the game.

[gnasher729]

Re: Interesting last paragraph

"I am surprised that the judge allowed that level of jury-rigging. Did her council contested that and if so what was the answer?"

You are basing this solely on what the plaintiff claimed. The plaintiff is unlikely to be unbiased here, and the real situation is likely just a little bit different.

[Anonymous Coward]

last para..

Pretty surprised by the comments, removing jurors that believe there's systemic sexism in tech would only be a problem if this was a widely accepted fact.

[raving angry loony]

Re: last para..

depends what you consider to be a "widely accepted fact". Going by anything from published studies to a variety of polls (both valid and self-selecting), sexism in tech *IS* a widely accepted fact except by those who have something to gain by denying it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: last para..

I don't believe that there is more sexism in tech than any other industry, which given your comment means that I must have something to gain? I think that's a little unfair. Is your definition of 'sexism' merely not having 50/50 representation.?

[John H Woods]

Re: last para..

"depends what you consider to be a "widely accepted fact"." --- raving angry loony

Indeed -- the only way to tell whether it something is widely accepted is to take a sample of the population at random and ask them. That is the point of doing jury duty selection at random. Jurors should be trusted to exercise proper judgement in the specific case under consideration; where you can't rely on this a process without a jury would be more appropriate.

Also the precise nature of the question matters. Do you think that sexism is so endemic in the IT that women can never be treated fairly? No. Do you think there is sometimes sexism in the IT that affects the careers of women? Possibly, I don't know. Do you agree there is no place for sexism in IT? Yes. Do agree there is no sexism in the IT industry? No.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: last para..

I predict that

a) Jurors that were excused were asked >1 question

b) After all possible jurors were excused (I think it is 20 on each side), what is left is 12 (?) randomly selected individuals with unknown bias levels.

The almost total lack of whining women with an over developed sense of entitlement based on their lack of a Y-chromosome is a contributing reason to tech being largely a meritocracy. The successful women in tech are not of the whining entitled type (and neither are the men).

Po should get over herself and get a job in HR.

[Youngone]

Re: last para..

depends what you consider to be a "widely accepted fact

My last boss (young, female) thought there was no discrimination against her in the company we worked at.

I, on the other hand (older, white, male) thought she was regularly condescended to and generally treated like a secretary.

[bombastic bob]

Re: last para..

I don't believe there's ANY systemic sexism, racism, or otherwise, ANYWHERE in countries where such things are punishable by LAW.

This is probably just some activist trying to make an extra buck using the legal system, sorta like "patent trolling" except THIS time, it's "-ism trolling". This isn't an episode of 'Mad Men', there are plenty of "fill in the blank" people if you MUST point out THOSE differences [they have NOTHING to do with how well you do your job, and THAT is the whole point!] in similar positions within "the industry", and hasn't 'The Register' even done articles on why it is that many women don't get into tech? It has NOTHING to do with sexism, and has EVERYTHING to do with what 'women in general' might want for a career...

She should've just sought employment elsewhere. Or, since she was FIRED 5 months later, maybe it was her INCOMPETENCE surfacing, and they just needed enough evidence to CAN her to avoid feeding the lawsuit with more fuel.

ayayayayayayay...

(being a business owner THESE days is REALLY difficult)

[Turtle]

Irrespective of anything else...

"Pao maintains [...] : 'To be clear, Kleiner and I have not reached any agreement to settle this matter. Settlement might have provided me with financial benefits, but only at the great cost of silence.'"

Irrespective of anything else, I have to have great respect for someone who takes such a stand.