As the software giant vows an immediate examination of the Israeli military’s use of its equipment during the ongoing assault in Gaza, police officers detained 18 people during worker-led protests at Microsoft headquarters on Wednesday.
Related Articles
-
DeSantis targets Florida congressional districts, seeks changes that could aid Republicans
-
Parents of kids swept away in Texas floods beg lawmakers to protect future campers
-
Man charged with killing an American Idol exec and husband will undergo mental evaluation
-
FTC sues LA Fitness operators for exceedingly difficult gym cancellation policies
-
US attorney will no longer bring felony charges against people for carrying rifles or shotguns in DC
At the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Washington, protesters demanded for two days in a row that the computer giant immediately sever its economic connections with Israel.
However, the Redmond Police Department reports that Wednesday’s protestors resisted and turned hostile after Microsoft told police they were trespassing, in contrast to Tuesday, when roughly 35 demonstrators who were occupying a plaza between corporate buildings departed after the business requested them to.
Additionally, the demonstrators covered a landmark sign that features the corporate emblem and the word Microsoft in large gray letters with blood-red paint.
According to police spokesperson Jill Green, they were held because they refused to leave when we told them to do so or face arrest.
Late last week, Microsoft announced that it was hiring a law firm to look into claims made by the British newspaper The Guardian that the Israeli Defense Forces stored phone call data collected through widespread surveillance of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank using Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing platform.
In a statement released on Friday, Microsoft stated that this kind of use is prohibited by its regular terms of service and that the report makes specific accusations that require a thorough and immediate investigation.
Following the devastating Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack, military use of commercial artificial intelligence technologies increased by over 200 times, according to previously published information regarding the tech giant’s close collaboration with the Israeli Ministry of Defense that were released by The Associated Press in February. The Israeli military utilizes Azure to process, translate, and transcribe intelligence obtained through mass surveillance, according to the AP. This information may then be compared with Israel’s own AI-enabled targeting systems.
Microsoft admitted the military applications in response to the AP investigation, but claimed that a review it conducted revealed no proof that its Azure platform and artificial intelligence technologies were being used to target or injure individuals in Gaza. Microsoft did not disclose who conducted the review or provide a copy.
Microsoft stated that it will release the results of the most recent study after the legal firm Covington & Burling has finished it.
The employee-led No Azure for Apartheid organization, which has been protesting Microsoft’s provision of technology to the Israeli military for its war against Hamas in Gaza for months, found the promise of a second assessment to be insufficient. On Wednesday, the group said that the technology is being used to kill, starve, and monitor Palestinians.
Microsoft dismissed two employees in April for disrupting the company’s 50th anniversary celebration, and fired another employee in May for interrupting CEO Satya Nadella’s speech to protest the contracts.
The demonstrators used rhetoric reminiscent of the 1987 Palestinian uprisings against Israeli military occupation to make a call for what they called a worker intifada online on Tuesday.
The police department reported on Wednesday that it had arrested 18 individuals on a number of crimes, including obstruction, trespassing, intentional mischief, and resisting arrest. The number of Microsoft employees was unclear. There were no reported injuries.
Following the arrests, Microsoft released a statement stating that it will keep up the hard work required to maintain our human rights standards in the Middle East while endorsing and taking decisive action against illegal activities that cause property damage, interfere with commercial operations, or endanger and injure others.
