‘#NoTechForApartheid:’ Google, Amazon workers protest AI contract with Israel
Google and Amazon workers have staged protests around the United States to speak out against the two tech giants’ cloud contracts with the Israeli regime, warning that Tel Aviv would use the technology for spying activities.
Demonstrations were staged on Thursday in four US cities, namely San Francisco, New York, Seattle and Durham, North Carolina against Project Nimbus, with protesters calling for the project’s cancellation.
The workers said that Nimbus will be used to facilitate unlawful spying and data collection on Palestinians and will clear the way for the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, warning that Nimbus “further enables apartheid and oppression of Palestinians.”
An incredible image of Amazon and Google tech workers opposing their bosses using their work and talent to uphold Israeli apartheid #NoTechForApartheid in NYC SF Seattle and Durham today pic.twitter.com/lkyVBb7jC8
— Athena Coalition (@athenaforall) September 8, 2022
Project Nimbus, named after the dark rain clouds called nimbus also known as nimbostratus, is a cloud computing project of the Israeli regime and its armed forces signed with the two US tech giants to provide Artificial Intelligence (AI) to Tel Aviv for use in espionage activities.
The $1.2 billion contract will see Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google provide cloud services to the Israeli regime to replace its computer-based systems with a cloud-based platform with artificial intelligence services and other computing tools.
The technology could be used for facial detection and “sentiment analysis,” a form of machine learning that purveyors claim can discern someone’s feelings by studying their face and speech, according to a report by The Intercept.
In this regard, even pro-Israeli firms have raised concerns about privacy issues.
“It’s a revolution,” Shimon Elkabetz, country managing director of Accenture Israel, told The Media Line, adding that the issues of data privacy and ensuring the technology was not misused did pose a significant threat.
Rights groups have also expressed concern that AI technology could be used by Tel Aviv to surveil Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
The #NoTechForApartheid movement, which was founded last year, has also launched a campaign to sign a petition calling on the management of the two companies to cancel the deal.
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