TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Protesters disrupted the annual Google Cloud Next conference in San Francisco, expressing their concerns over Google's contract with Israel’s military, Project Nimbus.
Approximately 30 protesters, including former Google employees and local activists, chained themselves on Howard Street outside the conference venue, displaying a banner reading "Google Project Nimbus fuels Israeli apartheid."
More than a dozen current Google workers distributed fliers explaining their objections to Project Nimbus, a $1.2-billion contract between Google, Amazon Web Services, and the Israeli regime and military. Critics are worried that Google's technology could be used for surveillance and harm against Palestinians, according to LA Times.
Joshua Marxen, a Google Cloud software engineer who helped organize the protest, expressed concerns about Google's collaboration with Israel, saying, "Google has given us no reason to trust them."
This protest highlights ongoing tensions between Google's workforce and its management regarding the ethical use of the company's technology. In recent years, Google employees have raised concerns about military contracts and the company's involvement in various projects.
Google has not provided detailed information about Project Nimbus, but it has acknowledged that the contract will provide Israel’s military with access to its technology.
Former Google worker Ariel Koren, who has been critical of Project Nimbus, believes that the contract's profitability coinciding with the 75th anniversary of the Nakba adds to the concerns of Palestinian activists. She has accused Google of silencing voices concerned about its complicity in Palestinian human rights violations.
The protest reflects growing dissent within tech companies regarding their involvement in military and controversial projects, with workers advocating for more ethical and socially responsible corporate practices.
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