Last month, The Free Thought Project reported that thousands of Google employees were speaking out about the company’s close relationship with the Pentagon, and their involvement in the business of war. Initially, 3,100 Google employees signed a letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, demanding that the company cancel an ongoing contract with the Pentagon that supported a drone program called “Project Maven.”
As expected, Google has not backed down, and at least a dozen of the employees who signed the letter are now resigning from the company in protest. Project Maven is an AI system that is being developed to scan images in drone footage and identify targets.
It was launched in April 2017, and according to a Pentagon memo, the objective is to “augment or automate Processing, Exploitation and Dissemination (PED) for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)” in order to “reduce the human factors burden of [full motion video] analysis, increase actionable intelligence, and enhance military decision-making.”
When the issue was raised last month, Google spokesperson Diane Greene assured the concerned employees that the technology “will not operate or fly drones” and “will not be used to launch weapons.”
However, the employees saw right through this excuse and pointed out in their letter that, “While this eliminates a narrow set of direct applications, the technology is being built for the military, and once it’s delivered it could easily be used to assist in these tasks. This plan will irreparably damage Google’s brand and its ability to compete for talent.”
Some of the employees who are resigning in protest have spoken with Gizmodo anonymously about their decisions.
“At some point, I realized I could not in good faith recommend anyone join Google, knowing what I knew. I realized if I can’t recommend people join here, then why am I still here?” one resigning Google employee told Gizmodo.
“I tried to remind myself right that Google’s decisions are not my decisions. I’m not personally responsible for everything they do. But I do feel responsibility when I see something that I should escalate it,” another said.
“Actions speak louder than words, and that’s a standard I hold myself to as well. I wasn’t happy just voicing my concerns internally. The strongest possible statement I could take against this was to leave,” one resigning employee added.
While employees have attempted to influence Google’s political policies in the past, this is the first time that there was ever a mass resignation over a specific issue. In 2015, a large number of Google employees and users successfully protested Google’s ban on sexually explicit content.
One resigning employee wondered why Google is willing to risk their reputation to be involved in such controversial projects. “It’s not like Google is this little machine-learning startup that’s trying to find clients in different industries. It just seems like it makes sense for Google and Google’s reputation to stay out of that,” the anonymous employee said.
However, these high-dollar Pentagon contracts seem to be an issue that the company is not willing to budge on. Despite the fact that hundreds of AI experts have also called on Google to stop the program for ethical reasons, the company is showing no signs of backing off. An open letter signed by hundreds of industry experts stated that:
“We are also deeply concerned about the possible integration of Google’s data on people’s everyday lives with military surveillance data, and its combined application to targeted killing. Google has moved into military work without subjecting itself to public debate or deliberation, either domestically or internationally. While Google regularly decides the future of technology without democratic public engagement, its entry into military technologies casts the problems of private control of information infrastructure into high relief. Should Google decide to use global internet users’ personal data for military purposes, it would violate the public trust that is fundamental to its business by putting its users’ lives and human rights in jeopardy. The responsibilities of global companies like Google must be commensurate with the transnational makeup of their users. The DoD contracts under consideration by Google, and similar contracts already in place at Microsoft and Amazon, signal a dangerous alliance between the private tech industry, currently in possession of vast quantities of sensitive personal data collected from people across the globe, and one country’s military. They also signal a failure to engage with global civil society and diplomatic institutions that have already highlighted the ethical stakes of these technologies.”
Google has reached a point where they feel that they are untouchable, and they have also reached a point where their government clients are likely far more important to them than their clients in the private sector.
In the past, Google may have been focused on innovation and connecting people through technology, but it is obvious that their focus has now shifted towards military and surveillance applications. While a dozen or so employees will not make much of a difference to Google’s bottom line, they are setting an important precedent by refusing to work on military projects, and hopefully, others will follow in their footsteps.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY:
My name is John Vibes and I am an author and researcher who organizes a number of large events including the Free Your Mind Conference. I write for numerous alternative media websites, including The Free Thought Project @tftproject and The Mind Unleashed. In addition to my first book, Alchemy of the Timeless Renaissance, I have also co-authored three books with Derrick Broze @dbroze : The Conscious Resistance: Reflections on Anarchy and Spirituality, Finding Freedom in an Age of Confusion and Manifesto of the Free Humans
I just won a 3-year-long battle with cancer, and will be working to help others through my experience, if you wish to contribute to my medical bills, consider subscribing to my podcast on Patreon.
First James DaMoore leaves Google for their crazy libtard policies, now other employees are deserting because they don't want to be a part of the US War Machine.
Looks like it's time for me to stop using Google!
I think they meant don't be as evil as Stalin.
lol i want that t shirt
Boogle's motto has always been
Do Be Evil
Over the years Boogle has been doing things which i would have raised holy hell for if i was working there.
And then, this, obvious thing (that they have been working on since the beginning) comes to light, and it is the thing people are quitting over?
Of course google would have war contract's that is why they control what we get to see and hear. so if you look up stuff about war the top thing's will probably be reason's why we should go to war.... and most of those are uh...eh....huh... LIES.. Great post @johnvibes as always
Great news to see people rising up.
Mini-rebellions across the U.S. like this have been sprouting up over the past few months (i.e. teacher strikers in Oklahoma, Arizona, West Virginia).
a dozen out of 3100 who complained, that's about the ratio of people who put their money where their mouth is.
The military is who funds a lot of research, I went to a technology fair at the technological institute here and basically everything was funded by the military, even the people researching non-Newtonian fluids were doing so in the hopes of developing liquid body armor.
The universe does not hear negations, thus Google's motto is "be evil"
When someone say"I hate X for such and such reasons" - do they refer to people? few people? someone specific? In case of google? Google is a monster, they shouting. Does that mean every person working at google wishes evil upon the world and every internet user? Do they really sit there and all 100,000 employees decide shit? this is not related to the post. Just wondering...
We all participate in doing evil in the world every time we use Google. We do evil when we work for Google, we do evil when we don't speak out against them and their policies when the opportunity arises. I don't think anyone in good conscious could say otherwise.
It ia good decision
I've done numerous stories on Google, as you've seen in my links @Johnvibes. It's great that you're staying on this story, as it's vitally important that people be aware. This is just scratching the surface of the immoral, harmful direction this internet monolith, and its parent company, Alphabet Inc, are heading in.
This is pretty frightening. The only thing going thru my mind reading this was population control
Full Spectrum Dominance.
Coming soon to every soul on this planet.
I still have my own thoughts, but for how long?
Curated for #informationwar (by @wakeupnd)
Relevance: Sharing the truth.
They didn't quit when Google began a campaign of widespread censorship. They didn't quit when Google was discriminating against men, especially white men. Now they're quitting because the company might help the government. I frankly don't think they'd be quitting if Obama was still President, even though he had the same drone strike program and military complex. They're just libtards who are having tantrums, while pretending to have some moral high ground.