Like "IBM's Work During the Holocaust": Inside Microsoft, Growing Outrage Over a Contract with ICE
by Maya Kosoff
June 19, 2018 5:47 pm
Microsoft employees, some of whom had no idea the company had a contract with ICE, told me they were stunned and demoralized by the news. "It's disgusting, although not really surprising, and it upsets me that the company I work for is collaborating with those human-rights abusers," one employee told me. The discontent grew this week as word of the partnership spread throughout the company. Employees are "frustrated," a different employee told me. "This could be Microsoft's Project Maven moment," this person added, referring to Google's contract to provide artificial-intelligence analysis for the Pentagon's drone program, which it decided not to renew after about a dozen employees resigned in protest.
While the scandal at Microsoft has not yet reached those proportions, another employee told me that they had spoken privately to co-workers about addressing Microsoft leadership, urging executives to cancel the contract with ICE. "The 'proud to support' statement doesn't reflect the opinions of all of us," this employee told me. A fourth employee, who called the partnership "shameful," was even more outspoken: "It hits a little too close to IBM's work during the Holocaust for me." (Microsoft did not respond to a request for comment.)
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/06/microsoft-employees-azure-ice-partnership?mbid=social_facebook
by Maya Kosoff
June 19, 2018 5:47 pm
Microsoft employees, some of whom had no idea the company had a contract with ICE, told me they were stunned and demoralized by the news. "It's disgusting, although not really surprising, and it upsets me that the company I work for is collaborating with those human-rights abusers," one employee told me. The discontent grew this week as word of the partnership spread throughout the company. Employees are "frustrated," a different employee told me. "This could be Microsoft's Project Maven moment," this person added, referring to Google's contract to provide artificial-intelligence analysis for the Pentagon's drone program, which it decided not to renew after about a dozen employees resigned in protest.
While the scandal at Microsoft has not yet reached those proportions, another employee told me that they had spoken privately to co-workers about addressing Microsoft leadership, urging executives to cancel the contract with ICE. "The 'proud to support' statement doesn't reflect the opinions of all of us," this employee told me. A fourth employee, who called the partnership "shameful," was even more outspoken: "It hits a little too close to IBM's work during the Holocaust for me." (Microsoft did not respond to a request for comment.)
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/06/microsoft-employees-azure-ice-partnership?mbid=social_facebook
