Google fired an employee who protested this week at an Israeli tech event, and also shuttered an internal discussion board that filled up with dissent.

During a keynote speech in New York on Monday from the managing director of Google’s Israel business, an employee in the company’s cloud division protested publicly, proclaiming “I refuse to build technology that powers genocide.”

Google’s role as a provider of technology to militaries in the U.S. and abroad has been a source of workforce consternation since at least 2018, when employees protested a Defense Department contract called Project Maven. Then came controversy surrounding Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion artificial intelligence and computing services agreement among Google, Amazon Web Services and the Israeli government and military that began in 2021.

That outrage has spread to a host of other issues, often leaving CEO Sundar Pichai on the defensive when confronted by employees at company events.

  • jjjalljs@ttrpg.networkEnglish
    455·
    6 months ago

    Unionizing might help.

    Though tech tends to be a lot of scabs and “rugged individuals”. But if enough people unionize, it can make it difficult for google to work on projects that the bulk of the staff find objectionable.