From Gizmodo:
Microsoft employees are putting pressure on their management to cancel a contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, part of a backlash against the agency’s policy of separating children from their families at the U.S. border.
In an open letter to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella sent today, employees demanded that the company cancel its $19.4 million contract with ICE and instate a policy against working with clients who violate international human rights law. The text of the employee letter was first reported by the New York Times and confirmed by Gizmodo.
“We believe that Microsoft must take an ethical stand, and put children and families above profits,” the letter, signed by Microsoft employees, states. “We request that Microsoft cancel its contracts with ICE, and with other clients who directly enable ICE. As the people who build the technologies that Microsoft profits from, we refuse to be complicit. We are part of a growing movement, comprised of many across the industry who recognize the grave responsibility that those creating powerful technology have to ensure what they build is used for good, and not for harm.”
Yesterday, as word of the contract between ICE and Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform spread within Microsoft’s ranks, some employees were incensed—and considering quitting. Now, Gizmodo has learned, those outside the company are having second thoughts about working with a tech giant that’s a “proud” and willing collaborator with ICE.
Mat Marquis, a writer and developer, announced on Twitter that he was canceling his contract with Microsoft in protest against its ICE contract.
“It would be easy to think of coding as neutral—we solve puzzles,” Marquis told Gizmodo. “[...] It’s important, though, to consider the bigger picture for the things we help to build—how can it be misused, who am I supporting with it, who benefits from it and who bears the costs? I didn’t work with the Azure team; I would never have ended up there, considering my skillset. But the decision to work with an organization is a decision to help them achieve their goals, and Microsoft has shown that they’re willing to lend their name to ICE’s goals. I will not.”Microsoft eventually responded to employees' concerns with some of the blandest PR pablum I've seen in quite some time, as if anxious to prove that they've learned nothing from their past mistakes, at least organizationally. Judging from the Microsoft employees' open letter, though, it would seem that consumers aren't the only people who are fed up with this shit, and ready to force some ethics on a giant multinational.
To be fair, Microsoft aren't the only giant multinational that have discovered that previously-normal government contracts are coming with enormous downsides during the Trump era, and the ICE story has evolved very quickly over the past few days. But the Trump policy position on immigration, broadly, is not a recent development, and ICE has been engaged in some pretty repugnant behaviour for a while now. The differences between the current backlash and previous excesses are more differences of degree than differences of kind.
Microsoft have clearly botched their initial response, here, but this is a fast-evolving story, and they do still have time to course-correct. Google originally botched their response to the Project Maven controversy, only to eventually announce that they were walking away from their Pentagon contract, and Microsoft can still walk away from their service contract with ICE. If Microsoft are going to make changes, though, then they need to do it quickly, before further damage is done to their reputation and brand.
Gizmodo have the full text of the Microsoft employees' open letter, as well as Microsoft's response, to head over there for fuller coverage.