More than 600 Google employees sign a letter to Google marketing executives asking them to end sponsorship of Mind the Tech, an annual conference promoting Israel's technology industry that will be held in New York this week. did. “Please withdraw from Mind the Tech, apologize, and stand with Google employees and customers who are in despair over the overwhelming loss of life in Gaza,” the letter, obtained by WIRED, reads. There is.
The two-day event begins with a series of industry-focused talks on Monday and concludes with a gala on Tuesday night. This is aimed at highlighting the resilience of Israel's technology industry in the face of Israel's economic downturn, especially after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants. Approximately 1,200 Israelis were killed in the attack. As of March 4, 30,000 Palestinians had been killed in Israel's military operation in Gaza.
On Monday, Google Israel Managing Director Barak Regev's conference remarks were interrupted by Google Cloud software engineers shouting that their work should not be used for surveillance or genocide. He was joined in interrupting the event by organizers from the anti-Zionist Israeli group Shoash and Jewish Voice for Peace.
“I don't think there's any way to continue working in engineering without doing this,” a Google engineer later told Hell Gate anonymously. “I consider this part of the engineering job, and I hope that other engineers in the cloud see me doing this and it inspires them.” Both activists quickly said: He was forced to leave the event. So did the Hell Gate correspondent who wrote this article. Event organizers did not explain why journalists were excluded.
Google was a “gold” sponsor of Mind the Tech, according to the conference website, but it's unclear what financial involvement that entails. The company did not respond to requests for comment. Other speakers on Monday included New York City Mayor Eric Adams, Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion and former NSA Director Michael Rogers.
Zelda Montes, a YouTube software engineer who participated in a protest outside the conference on Monday, told WIRED that she was against the situation in which “Israeli AI technology is being used to monitor and commit genocide against Palestinians.” said that worker solidarity is particularly important.
“While our 'leadership' continues to fail us, as Googlers we must look to each other and see what more we can do to stand united against technological oppression. I hope we can ask ourselves that question,” Montes said.
An internal letter opposing Google's participation in Mind the Tech was first shared within Google on February 29th. The letter was co-authored by several organizers from No Tech for Aparttheid, a campaign group calling for the termination of Project Nimbus, his $1.2 billion cloud computing contract in Israel. The government and his 2021 announced deals with Google and Amazon, as well as other unpleasant deals.
No Tech for Apartheid claims that the terms of the Nimbus deal allow the US company's cloud technology, including artificial intelligence tools, to be used for military purposes. Documents obtained by The Intercept show that Project Nimbus' tools can be used for surveillance, an essential aspect of Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory.