Last week, hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters chained themselves outside the entrance to Google’s annual developer conference, Google I/O, to protest the tech company’s ties to Israeli military projects. According to media reports, protesters blocked the entrance to Google’s developer conference in Mountain View for reportedly about 90 minutes, demanding that the tech giant stop cooperating with the Israeli government over the country’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Google security staff closed the entrance and redirected the crowd, ensuring the event began on schedule. Security closed the entrance as protesters arrived at the front, leaving a vast line of attendees who were later directed elsewhere to proceed to the conference.
Groups including the No Tech for Apartheid coalition and others from across the Bay Area held a sign that read, “Google stop fueling genocide.” They chanted “we won’t stop until Nimbus is dropped,” referring to the $1.2 billion project backed by Amazon and Google that provides the Israeli government with artificial intelligence and cloud computing services.
Last month, Google fired more than 50 employees for participating in a pro-Palestinian protest during which they occupied Google campuses in Up-to-date York and Sunnyvale, California.
In its defense, Google maintains that its technology serves many governments around the world, including Israel. The company emphasizes that Project Nimbus is a standard commercial cloud service and that the Israeli government has agreed to abide by Google’s terms of service and acceptable apply policies. Google further clarifies that the project does not cover “tasks of a highly sensitive, secret or military nature, related to weapons or intelligence services.”
“This work is not targeted at highly sensitive, classified or military tasks involving weapons or intelligence services,” Google said in an April statement.
Google security staff closed the entrance and redirected the crowd, ensuring the event began on schedule. Security closed the entrance as protesters arrived at the front, leaving a vast line of attendees who were later directed elsewhere to proceed to the conference.
Groups including the No Tech for Apartheid coalition and others from across the Bay Area held a sign that read, “Google stop fueling genocide.” They chanted “we won’t stop until Nimbus is dropped,” referring to the $1.2 billion project backed by Amazon and Google that provides the Israeli government with artificial intelligence and cloud computing services.
Last month, Google fired more than 50 employees for participating in a pro-Palestinian protest during which they occupied Google campuses in Up-to-date York and Sunnyvale, California.
In its defense, Google maintains that its technology serves many governments around the world, including Israel. The company emphasizes that Project Nimbus is a standard commercial cloud service and that the Israeli government has agreed to abide by Google’s terms of service and acceptable apply policies. Google further clarifies that the project does not cover “tasks of a highly sensitive, secret or military nature, related to weapons or intelligence services.”
“This work is not targeted at highly sensitive, classified or military tasks involving weapons or intelligence services,” Google said in an April statement.
