In a surge of activism highlighting the moral quagmire within big tech companies, students and employees at Google and Amazon have rallied to protest their employers’ embroilment in Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion Israeli government surveillance program. The project, which reportedly involved top cloud and AI services, has generated huge controversy, sparking protests and strikes. Protesters reportedly fear the project could be used to further escalate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Project Nimbus is essentially a collaboration between Google Cloud, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and the Israeli government. Launched in 2021, the project aims to provide cutting-edge cloud computing and AI capabilities to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and various Israeli government agencies. Examples of these technologies include facial recognition, sentiment analysis, and automated image classification, which critics say could be weaponized and accelerate surveillance activities against Palestinians.
Protest against Project Nimbus: Unanimity on Principle
The funding of Project Nimbus sparked a wider tech worker and student protest movement. Protests took place at Google offices in New York, California, Seattle, and Durham on April 16, 2024. Organized by a group calling itself “No Tech for Apartheid (NOTA),” the protests saw participants storm the office space, holding visuals and chanting “No tech for apartheid,” demanding an end to the Nimbus contract.
NOTA is essentially a coalition of tech workers and activists from the Muslim grassroots movement MPower Change and the advocacy group Jewish Voice for Peace. Since 2021, NOTA has been advocating for Google and Amazon to boycott and divest from Project Nimbus and any other work they do for the Israeli government.
“Palestinians are already being harmed by Israeli surveillance and violence,” the pledge reads, marking the latest backlash against Google and Amazon. “By expanding their public cloud computing capacity and providing cutting-edge technology to the Israeli occupying government and military, Amazon and Google are helping make Israeli apartheid more efficient, more violent, and more deadly to Palestinians.”
Tough response from companies
Google’s response to the protests was swift and cold. The company fired at least 28 employees who participated in the sit-ins for violating rules and disruptive behavior. Many have since condemned it as an effort to stifle dissent and force employees into submission. NOTA spokeswoman Jane Chang said she thinks Google’s intentions are clear:
“The company is attempting to stifle dissent, silence its employees, and reassert power over them,” Chung said in a press release. “In that effort, Google has decided to unceremoniously and without due process turn the lives of more than 50 of its own employees upside down.”
Big impact on technology
As the Project Nimbus protests proved, this could be a much bigger issue than anyone expected. It signals a tipping point in the tech industry, where employees are more prepared to confront their employers on ethical issues. The activity reflects a larger shift in the sector, where employees are demanding greater accountability and conscience from technology.
The protests also revealed a huge gap between company strategies and differing employee attitudes: Employees around the world, particularly Palestinian activists, Muslim employees, and their allies, have faced harassment and retaliation for speaking out against Facebook’s arbitrary oppression of Palestinians, and there are growing calls for these tech companies to meaningfully demonstrate their values around innovation and promoting and respecting human rights.
Overall, the protests against Project Nimbus raise important questions about the involvement of technology in modern warfare and the debate over the responsibility of programmers in developing and deploying it. These protests will only gain momentum and will influence how technology companies decide who they award future contracts to and the extent to which they should consider the potential human rights risks of their technology.
Want to learn more about cybersecurity and cloud from industry leaders? Check out the Cyber Security & Cloud Expo in Amsterdam, California, and London. Find out about other upcoming enterprise technology events and webinars hosted by TechForge here.
