AI Threats on Palestinians: Google and Apple protests against Israel’s security apparatus in the wake of Tuesday night’s Google sit-in protests
Tuesday night’s police action came after “dozens” of employees were placed on administrative leave after participating in the day’s sit-in protests but leaving peacefully, the person involved says. Protest rallies also took place outside Google offices in New York, Sunnyvale, and Seattle.
Google and Amazon workers protested outside company offices in 2022 after The Intercept published documents showing the contract includes AI technology such as video analysis. The protesting tech workers say such capabilities could be used by Israel’s security apparatus to harm Palestinians.
The open letter was published by 18 organizations, and demanded that the companies stop work on Project Nimbus. At the moment, it has gathered 93,000 signatures from the general public. The letter said that there were reports of Palestinians being used in the West Bank by the IDF.
Last month, Google cloud software engineer Eddie Hatfield disrupted Google Israel’s managing director at Mind The Tech, a company-sponsored conference focused on the Israeli tech industry. More than 600 other people signed a petition opposing the company’s Sponsorship of the conference after Hatfield was fired in protest, and a trust and safety policy employee resigned in protest.
Then, in late March, more than 300 Apple workers signed an open letter that alleged retaliation against workers who have expressed support for Palestinians, and urged company leadership to show public support for Palestinians.
Hasan Ibraheem, a Google software engineer, is participating in the sit-in at his local Google office in New York. “This has really been a culmination of our efforts,” he tells WIRED.
The New York Police Department is searching for a partner of Israel’s “project Nimbus” on Gaza, and no response to the WIRED investigation
Israel’s military assault on Gaza, which began after Hamas killed about 1,100 Israelis on October 7, has added new fuel to the internal opposition to Project Nimbus. The Israeli Defence Forces have killed over 34,000 Palestinians in Gaza since last fall.
WIRED was not able to confirm that the four workers in New York had been arrested or charged. A person involved in coordinating the protests says New York workers were arrested with desk appearance tickets, which specify when a person must appear in court. Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A protester says they won’t be leaving. The man in uniform introduced the officers as NYPD and said the workers had one last chance to walk out. “If not, you can be arrested for trespass,” he says. When the protesters again decline to go, police officers put them in handcuffs.
