“Thanks to [clever] image-building campaigns, Microsoft doesn’t get scrutinized as much as its peers. The company sponsors think tanks that bolster its progressive credentials and mask the industry’s violent and imperialist agenda. Microsoft also benefits from the aura of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and the Gates Foundation. The New York Times still turns to Gates for advice on how to fix the world’s problems, and runs chummy interviews with Microsoft President Brad Smith to get his insights on the problem of “money in politics.””
“But systematically omitted from such coverage are Microsoft’s services to armies, police forces, and prisons around the world – including Microsoft’s investments in Israeli settler-colonialism.”
“Israel has embraced Microsoft’s products, and the company committed to Israel’s industries – enough so that former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says “Microsoft is as much an Israeli company as an American company.” Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said that Israel’s developments in “security” were “improving the world,” and current Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella praised Israel’s transformative “human capital.” But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went further: Israel and Microsoft were “a marriage made in heaven, but recognized here on earth.””
“During the year of the Jenin massacre, Microsoft got a three-year 100-million-shekel contract with the Israeli government (roughly $35 million in current US dollars) – the largest contract of its kind for Israel at the time. As part of the contract, Microsoft agreed to provide unlimited products to the Israeli army and defense ministry, and broadly exchange “knowledge” with the army. According to Israeli newspapers, Israel paid Microsoft from its US “aid” money – a standard way for US corporations to profit by working with Israel.”
“Microsoft’s recent investments include AnyVision, an Israeli company that provides the state with cameras and facial recognition software for surveilling Palestinians in the West Bank.”
“In recent years, Microsoft has acquired Israeli “cybersecurity” companies such as Aorato (in 2014 for $200 million), Adallom (in 2015 for $320 million), Hexadite (in 2017 for $100 million), and CyberX (in 2020 for $165 million) – all based on IDF technologies.”
“Beyond financial investment, Microsoft also brings its “entrepreneurial” spirit to the IDF. Microsoft sent “mentors” to a 24-hour IDF “hackathon” in which cadets and software engineers developed “creative solutions” for military operations. One hackathon prize-winning app was for “settlement defense” (in Hebrew, “haganat yishuvim”)”.
“Israel uses Microsoft Xbox to control tanks […] developed by IAI and Elbit, both makers of drones used to terrorize Palestinians and others across the world. Elbit also helped build the surveillance infrastructure along the Arizona-Mexico border, which encroaches on the land of the Tohono O’odham Nation”.
“The Israeli army uses Microsoft’s gadgets in official propaganda campaigns. In one video, the IDF claims that Microsoft HoloLens, a “mixed reality” gadget, allows the army to “identify its enemies” and “control robots and drones with gestures.””
“Microsoft provides much of the data management behind state violence. According to US government spending reports, over the years Microsoft has received $3.4 billion in federal funds, with roughly 72.6% ($2.4 billion) from the Department of Defense and 14.3% ($488 million) from the Department of Homeland Security – which includes data management contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).”
“Microsoft also services police departments and prisons around the world. It develops software for managing information about incarcerated people, including products geared for “youth offenders.” Microsoft’s carceral products are used by police forces in New York, Washington D.C., Seattle, and Atlanta, as well as in Brazil and Singapore. The company also partnered with a Moroccan firm that gives prisons software for the “management and monitoring of the prisoners, from their incarceration to their release.”
“Despite participating in state violence, Microsoft is sometimes treated as an enlightened corporation. […] Microsoft’s international research centers contribute to this image.”
Read more: How Microsoft is invested in Israeli settler-colonialism
2021-week11
