Most information security specialists against the proposal to abandon the use of the terms 'black hat' and 'white hat'. The proposal was initiated by David Kleidermacher, Vice President of Engineering at Google, who to present a report at the Black Hat USA 2020 conference and suggested that the industry move away from the terms 'black hat', 'white hat' and MITM (man-in-the-middle) in favor of more neutral alternatives. The term MITM has caused discontent due to its gender implication, and it was suggested to use the term PITM (people-in-the-middle) instead.
The majority of discussion participants about how racial stereotypes are being linked to terms that have no relation to them. The colors white and black have long been used to represent good and evil. The terms black hat and white hat have no connection to skin color and originate from Western films, where positive heroes wore white hats, and villains wore black ones. Over time, this analogy was transferred to information security.
Source: opennet.ru
