Latest news with #ProjectNimbus
Time of India
14-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Google's shareholders get an 'Israel request': We believe this proposal is ...
Jewish advocacy groups are urging Google-parent Alphabet shareholders to reject a proposal set for a vote at the company's annual meeting, which demands an investigation into whether Google's cloud services, particularly those involved in Israel's Project Nimbus , contribute to human rights abuses in conflict zones. According to a report in New York Post, the Google 's annual shareholders meeting is scheduled for June 6, 2025, when the proposal will be put to vote. The proposal targets Alphabet's contracts with the Israeli government, including Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion cloud initiative with Amazon that serves both civilian agencies and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), told the Post, 'Proposal 9 offers the pretense of concern for human rights when in fact it is a thinly disguised ploy to weaken Israel's national security — and to undermine its right to defend itself — by pressuring Alphabet to withhold vital technology that supports the country's self-defense capabilities.' He added 'We believe this proposal is closely aligned with the objectives of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, whose goal is to delegitimize the State of Israel.' What Google's board has advised shareholders on the proposal The measure calls for an independent report to assess if Alphabet's services contribute to human rights harms in 'conflict-affected and high-risk areas.' Alphabet's board has advised shareholders to vote against it, per the company's proxy statement. Critics, including JLens, a Jewish investment advisor managing over $2 billion in assets, argue the proposal misrepresents Project Nimbus by framing it as a military project while ignoring its civilian uses in Israeli healthcare, finance, education, and transportation. Ari Hoffnung, JLens' Managing Director, told the Post, 'Alphabet's shareholders should see this proposal for what it is: an attempt to misuse the proxy process to advance a divisive political agenda that has no place in corporate governance.' Protests at Google over project Nimbus JLens has filed a formal opposition with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Post notes that Alphabet faced backlash after firing 28 employees in April 2024 over protests against Project Nimbus and criticism for acquiring Israeli cybersecurity firm Wiz, with BDS-aligned groups targeting Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian. The vote follows the October 7, 2023, terror attacks in Israel, which killed over 1,200 and saw hundreds taken hostage, heightening concerns about restricting technology critical to Israel's civilian safety and infrastructure. Alphabet did not respond to the Post's request for comment. AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
Gizmodo
14-05-2025
- Business
- Gizmodo
Anti-Defamation League Pushes Google to Reject Review of Human Rights Abuses
The Anti-Defamation League is lobbying Alphabet, the parent company of Google, to vote down a shareholder proposal that would require the company to investigate whether its cloud services (specifically Project Nimbus, which is a contract with the Israeli government) are aiding human rights abuses in conflict zones (you know, like Gaza). Alphabet is expected to vote on the proposal at its next shareholder meeting on June 6th. This week, the ADL sent a letter to Alphabet in which it described the proposal as a 'ploy' by the Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions movement, which has long sought to curb American aid to the Israeli war machine. 'Proposal 9 offers the pretense of concern for human rights when in fact it is a thinly disguised ploy to weaken Israel's national security — and to undermine its right to defend itself — by pressuring Alphabet to withhold vital technology that supports the country's self-defense capabilities,' said Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO and National Director of the Anti-Defamation League. Nimbus is described by Google as 'cloud services to digitally transform the State of Israel.' What Nimbus is actually used for is still somewhat unclear. It is a cloud and AI system, so ostensibly it could be used for a lot of different things. Human rights groups have repeatedly asked for more information about the project, to no avail. Google isn't the only large U.S. company involved in the project. Amazon is another major stakeholder that has provided cloud infrastructure. Inside the company, concerns have swirled over whether Israel's increasingly genocidal policies against the Palestinians may lead to legal action against Google for its complicity in the carnage. In December, the New York Times reported that company lawyers were concerned that 'Google Cloud services could be used for, or linked to, the facilitation of human rights violations, including Israeli activity in the West Bank.' Over the past year, Israel has decimated the Palestinian population in Gaza, leading to widespread condemnations of 'genocide' and to war crime charges filed by the International Criminal Court against the nation's leader, Benjamin Netanyahu. Some 50,000 Palestinians have reportedly been killed as a result of Israel's assault, the majority of whom have been women and children, according to one UN estimate. Amidst its blitzkrieg of the region, Israel has targeted journalists and healthcare workers with impunity and has openly targeted hospitals and other critical infrastructure. The government recently announced plans to permanently occupy and 'flatten' all of Gaza. Google's corporate kerfuffle over the Nimbus-related shareholder proposal also comes at the same time that The Intercept has revealed the degree to which the company intuited that Nimbus could prove problematic before it ever provided services to the Israeli government. The information is based on a confidential internal report from 2021 that showed executives' anxieties about the potential for the deal to spin out of the tech company's control. 'Google Cloud Services could be used for, or linked to, the facilitation of human rights violations, including Israeli activity in the West Bank,' resulting in 'reputation harm,' Google worried. Even more problematically, Google worried that it would have a limited ability to control what Israel did with Nimbus. Due to the way in which the deal was structured, the project—once in Israel's hands—would largely be beyond Google's control. The report states that the company would 'be constrained by the terms of the tender, as Customers are entitled to use services for any reason except violation of applicable law to the Customer.' The Intercept article also makes clear the degree to which the Nimbus deal has wedded Google to the Israeli national security state. The article notes that the contract obligated the creation of a secret Israeli team within Google that was capable of handling the covert nature of the effort: …Project Nimbus entails a deep collaboration between Google and the Israeli security state through the creation of a Classified Team within Google. This team is made up of Israeli nationals within the company with security clearances, designed to 'receive information by [Israel] that cannot be shared with [Google].' Google's Classified Team 'will participate in specialized training with government security agencies,' the first report states, as well as 'joint drills and scenarios tailored to specific threats.' Google has spent years attempting to tamp down criticism (both from inside its own ranks and from outside groups) over its ties to the Israeli government. Concerned Googlers have frequently lobbied for the tech giant to cut ties with Project Nimbus. Meanwhile, groups like No Tech for Apartheid have continually sought to condemn the project and its potential role in the ongoing atrocities being committed by the Israeli government. Publicly, Google has never expressed anything approaching concern, maintaining that Nimbus is a critical program for a key ally in the Middle East.
New York Post
13-05-2025
- Business
- New York Post
ADL calls on Google shareholders to vote down human rights proposal ‘whose goal is to delegitimize Israel'
Jewish rights groups urged shareholders at Google's parent company Alphabet to reject a proposal that would require the company to investigate whether its cloud-computing services — specifically those used in Israel's Project Nimbus — contribute to human rights abuses in conflict zones. The proposal, which will be voted on at Alphabet's annual shareholder meeting on June 6, takes aim at the company's technology contracts with the Israeli government, including services used by both civilian agencies and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). 'Proposal 9 offers the pretense of concern for human rights when in fact it is a thinly disguised ploy to weaken Israel's national security — and to undermine its right to defend itself — by pressuring Alphabet to withhold vital technology that supports the country's self-defense capabilities,' said Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO and National Director of the Anti-Defamation League. Advertisement 3 The Anti-Defamation League is urging shareholders at Google's parent company Alphabet to reject a proposal it says targets Israel. jetcityimage – 'We believe this proposal is closely aligned with the objectives of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, whose goal is to delegitimize the State of Israel.' The proposal calls on Alphabet to commission an independent third-party report assessing whether its products and services are being used to cause or contribute to human rights harms in 'conflict-affected and high-risk areas' (CAHRA). Advertisement It specifically highlights the company's involvement in Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion joint cloud project with Amazon that has drawn criticism from anti-Israel activists and protest groups. Alphabet's board of directors has joined the ADL in recommending that shareholders vote against the measure, according to the proxy statement released by the company ahead of the meeting. 3 Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO and national director of the ADL, slammed what he called a 'thinly disguised ploy to weaken Israel's national security.' Michael Nagle Critics argue the proposal distorts the nature of Project Nimbus, portraying it solely as a military initiative while ignoring its civilian applications across Israeli ministries of healthcare, finance, education and transportation. Advertisement Also opposing the measure is JLens, a registered investment advisor representing over 300 Jewish institutions with more than $2 billion in invested assets. The group promotes Jewish values through shareholder advocacy and impact investing and has been vocal in its opposition to proposals it deems politically motivated or anti-Israel. 'Alphabet's shareholders should see this proposal for what it is: an attempt to misuse the proxy process to advance a divisive political agenda that has no place in corporate governance,' said Ari Hoffnung, Managing Director of JLens. 'Proposal 9 not only distorts the purpose of Project Nimbus — it also risks undermining shareholder value by inserting geopolitics into decisions about lawful, commercially sound partnerships.' Advertisement 3 Google has been under scrutiny for its ties to the Israeli military, which has been accused of human rights violations in the Palestinian territories. REUTERS JLens has filed a Notice of Exempt Solicitation with the Securities and Exchange Commission to formally oppose the measure. The Post has sought comment from Alphabet. The vote comes in the wake of the October 7, 2023 terror attacks in Israel, which killed more than 1,200 people and led to hundreds more getting dragged back to Gaza as hostages. ADL and JLens argue that restricting access to Alphabet's technology in such a volatile environment would compromise civilian safety and critical infrastructure. Alphabet has faced growing pressure over its Israeli partnerships. In April 2024, the company fired 28 employees after internal protests over Project Nimbus. Advertisement Earlier this year, the tech giant faced further backlash for acquiring Israeli cybersecurity firm Wiz, a deal condemned by BDS-aligned organizers. One protest targeted the home of Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian, with banners labeling him a 'genocide profiteer.'
Business Wire
13-05-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
ADL and JLens Urge Shareholders of Alphabet Inc. to Vote AGAINST Anti-Israel Shareholder Proposal
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--JLens, a Registered Investment Advisor, along with ADL (the Anti-Defamation League), today called upon shareholders of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG)(the 'Company') to vote AGAINST a shareholder proposal designed to harm Israel by pressuring the Company into severing business ties with the country. ADL and JLens noted that Proposal 9 is expected to be submitted to a shareholder vote at the Alphabet annual meeting on June 6, 2025. The proposal cites the fact that Alphabet provides cloud-computing technology to 'Project Nimbus,' a system used by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and many civilian applications, as justification for a request that the Company commission an independent third-party report to determine whether its customers' use of certain products and services, 'contributes to human rights harms in conflict-affected and high-risk areas (CAHRA).' The Board of Directors of Alphabet has recommended that their shareholders vote AGAINST the above-noted shareholder proposal. 'Proposal 9 offers the pretense of concern for human rights when in fact it is a thinly disguised ploy to weaken Israel's national security—and to undermine its right to defend itself—by pressuring Alphabet to withhold vital technology that supports the country's self-defense capabilities,' said Jonathan A. Greenblatt, CEO and National Director of ADL. 'We believe this proposal is closely aligned with the objectives of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, whose goal is to delegitimize the State of Israel.' ADL and JLens believe that Proposal 9 misrepresents 'Project Nimbus' by portraying it solely as a military initiative, while ignoring its broad civilian applications across Israel's ministries of finance, healthcare, education, and transportation. At the same time, the proposal disregards the urgent and lawful need for modern defense technologies—especially in the wake of the October 7, 2023 terror attacks, which killed over 1,200 people and took hundreds hostage. Alphabet's cloud services play a vital role in both safeguarding Israeli civilians and strengthening essential public infrastructure, making this proposal not only misleading but dangerously out of touch with the realities on the ground. 'Alphabet's shareholders should see this proposal for what it is: an attempt to misuse the proxy process to advance a divisive political agenda that has no place in corporate governance,' said Ari Hoffnung, Managing Director of JLens. 'Proposal 9 not only distorts the purpose of Project Nimbus—it also risks undermining shareholder value by inserting geopolitics into decisions about lawful, commercially sound partnerships.' The shareholder proposal is not the first time Alphabet has come under attack from anti-Israel activists, but rather part of a broader campaign targeting Google for its business ties with Israel. In April 2024, Google terminated 28 employees following a series of protests against its cloud contract with the Israeli government, citing workplace disruptions and policy violations, according to an internal memo. BDS movement organizers also condemned the company's 2025 acquisition of Israeli cybersecurity firm Wiz, claiming it reflects support for the so-called 'Israeli apartheid system.' In one extreme case, protesters targeted the home of Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian, hanging banners that labeled him a 'genocide profiteer.' JLens has filed a Notice of Exempt Solicitation with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, describing its opposition to Alphabet shareholder proposal. About ADL ADL is the leading anti-hate organization in the world. Founded in 1913, its timeless mission is 'to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all.' Today, ADL continues to fight all forms of antisemitism and bias, using innovation and partnerships to drive impact. A global leader in combating antisemitism, countering extremism and battling bigotry wherever and whenever it happens, ADL works to protect democracy and ensure a just and inclusive society for all. More at About JLens Founded in 2012, JLens is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and Registered Investment Advisor that empowers investors to align their capital with Jewish values and advocates for Jewish communal priorities in the corporate arena. JLens' Jewish Investor Network is composed of over 30 Jewish institutions, representing $11 billion in communal capital. In 2022, JLens established an affiliation with ADL (Anti-Defamation League), the leading anti-hate organization in the world. JLens has an indirect financial interest in Intel, General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin as a data and proxy service provider, and sub advisor to investment vehicles with holdings in those companies. More at PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS NOT A PROXY SOLICITATION AND NO PROXY CARDS WILL BE ACCEPTED. The Anti-Defamation League and JLens are not asking for your proxy card and cannot accept your proxy card. Please DO NOT send us your proxy card.
The Intercept
12-05-2025
- Business
- The Intercept
Google Worried It Couldn't Control How Israel Uses Project Nimbus, Files Reveal
Before signing its lucrative and controversial Project Nimbus deal with Israel, Google knew it couldn't control what the nation and its military would do with the powerful cloud-computing technology, a confidential internal report obtained by The Intercept reveals. The report makes explicit the extent to which the tech giant understood the risk of providing state-of-the-art cloud and machine learning tools to a nation long accused of systemic human rights violations and wartime atrocities. Not only would Google be unable to fully monitor or prevent Israel from using its software to harm Palestinians, but the report also notes that the contract could obligate Google to stonewall criminal investigations by other nations into Israel's use of its technology. And it would require close collaboration with the Israeli security establishment — including joint drills and intelligence sharing — that was unprecedented in Google's deals with other nations. A third-party consultant Google hired to vet the deal recommended that the company withhold machine learning and artificial intelligence tools from Israel because of these risk factors. Three international law experts who spoke with The Intercept said that Google's awareness of the risks and foreknowledge that it could not conduct standard due diligence may pose legal liability for the company. The rarely discussed question of legal culpability has grown in significance as Israel enters the third year of what has widely been acknowledged as a genocide in Gaza — with shareholders pressing the company to conduct due diligence on whether its technology contributes to human rights abuses. 'They're aware of the risk that their products might be used for rights violations,' said León Castellanos-Jankiewicz, a lawyer with the Asser Institute for International and European Law in The Hague, who reviewed portions of the report. 'At the same time, they will have limited ability to identify and ultimately mitigate these risks.' Google declined to answer any of a list of detailed questions sent by The Intercept about the company's visibility into Israel's use of its services or what control it has over Project Nimbus. Company spokesperson Denise Duffy-Parkes instead responded with a verbatim copy of a statement that Google provided for a different article last year. 'We've been very clear about the Nimbus contract, what it's directed to, and the Terms of Service and Acceptable Use Policy that govern it. Nothing has changed.' Portions of the internal document were first reported by the New York Times, but Google's acknowledged inability to oversee Israel's usage of its tools has not previously been disclosed. In January 2021 , just three months before Google won the Nimbus contract alongside Amazon, the company's cloud computing executives faced a dilemma. The Project Nimbus contract — then code-named 'Selenite' at Google — was a clear moneymaker. According to the report, which provides an assessment of the risks and rewards of this venture, Google estimated a bespoke cloud data center for Israel, subject to Israeli sovereignty and law, could reap $3.3 billion between 2023 and 2027, not only by selling to Israel's military but also its financial sector and corporations like pharmaceutical giant Teva. But given decades of transgressions against international law by Israeli military and intelligence forces it was now supplying, the company acknowledged that the deal was not without peril. 'Google Cloud Services could be used for, or linked to, the facilitation of human rights violations, including Israeli activity in the West Bank,' resulting in 'reputation harm,' the company warned. In the report, Google acknowledged the urgency of mitigating these risks, both to the human rights of Palestinians and Google's public image, through due diligence and enforcement of the company's terms of service, which forbid certain acts of destruction and criminality. But the report makes clear a profound obstacle to any attempt at oversight: The Project Nimbus contract is written in such a way that Google would be largely kept in the dark about what exactly its customer was up to, and should any abuses ever come to light, obstructed from doing anything about them. Read our complete coverage The document lays out the limitations in stark terms. Google would only be given 'very limited visibility' into how its software would be used. The company was 'not permitted to restrict the types of services and information that the Government (including the Ministry of Defense and Israeli Security Agency) chooses to migrate' to the cloud. Attempts to prevent Israeli military or spy agencies from using Google Cloud in ways damaging to Google 'may be constrained by the terms of the tender, as Customers are entitled to use services for any reason except violation of applicable law to the Customer,' the document says. A later section of the report notes Project Nimbus would be under the exclusive legal jurisdiction of Israel, which, like the United States, is not a party to the Rome Statute and does not recognize the International Criminal Court. 'Google must not respond to law enforcement disclosure requests without consultation and in some cases approval from the Israeli authorities, which could cause us to breach international legal orders / law.' Should Project Nimbus fall under legal scrutiny outside of Israel, Google is required to notify the Israeli government as early as possible, and must 'Reject, Appeal, and Resist Foreign Government Access Requests.' Google noted this could put the company at odds with foreign governments should they attempt to investigate Project Nimbus. The contract requires Google to 'implement bespoke and strict processes to protect sensitive Government data,' according to a subsequent internal report, also viewed by The Intercept that was drafted after the company won its bid. This obligation would stand even if it means violating the law: 'Google must not respond to law enforcement disclosure requests without consultation and in some cases approval from the Israeli authorities, which could cause us to breach international legal orders / law.' The second report notes another onerous condition of the Nimbus deal: Israel 'can extend the contract up to 23 years, with limited ability for Google to walk away.' The initial report notes that Google Cloud chief Thomas Kurian would personally approve the contract with full understanding and acceptance of these risks before the company submitted its contract proposal. Google did not make Kurian available for comment. Business for Social Responsibility, a human rights consultancy tapped by Google to vet the deal, recommended the company withhold machine learning and AI technologies specifically from the Israeli military in order to reduce potential harms, the document notes. It's unclear how the company could have heeded this advice considering the limitations in the contract. The Intercept in 2022 reported that Google Cloud's full suite of AI tools was made available to Israeli state customers, including the Ministry of Defense. BSR did not respond to a request for comment. The first internal Google report makes clear that the company worried how Israel might use its technology. 'If Google Cloud moves forward with the tender, we recommend the business secure additional assurances to avoid Google Cloud services being used for, or linked to, the facilitation of human rights violations.' It's unclear if such assurances were ever offered. Google has long defended Project Nimbus by stating that the contract 'is not directed at highly sensitive, classified or military workloads relevant to weapons or intelligence services.' The internal materials note that Project Nimbus will entail nonclassified workloads from both the Ministry of Defense and Shin Bet, the country's rough equivalent of the FBI. Classified workloads, one report states, will be handled by a second, separate contract code-named 'Natrolite.' Google did not respond when asked about its involvement in the classified Natrolite project. Both documents spell out that Project Nimbus entails a deep collaboration between Google and the Israeli security state through the creation of a Classified Team within Google. This team is made up of Israeli nationals within the company with security clearances, designed to 'receive information by [Israel] that cannot be shared with [Google].' Google's Classified Team 'will participate in specialized training with government security agencies,' the first report states, as well as 'joint drills and scenarios tailored to specific threats.' The level of cooperation between Google and the Israeli security state appears to have been unprecedented at the time of the report. 'The sensitivity of the information shared, and general working model for providing it to a government agency, is not currently provided to any country by GCP,' the first document says. Whether Google could ever pull the plug on Nimbus for violating the company rules or the law is unclear. The company has claimed to The Intercept and other outlets that Project Nimbus is subject to its standard terms of use, like any other Google Cloud customer. But Israeli government documents contradict this, showing the use of Project Nimbus services is constrained not by Google's normal terms, but a secret amended policy. A spokesperson for the Israeli Ministry of Finance confirmed to The Intercept that the amended Project Nimbus terms of use are confidential. Shortly after Google won the Nimbus contract, an attorney from the Israeli Ministry of Finance, which oversaw the deal, was asked by reporters if the company could ever terminate service to the government. 'According to the tender requirements, the answer is no,' he replied. In its statement, Google points to a separate set of rules, its Acceptable Use Policy, that it says Israel must abide by. These rules prohibit actions that 'violate or encourage the violation of the legal rights of others.' But the follow-up internal report suggests this Acceptable Use Policy is geared toward blocking illegal content like sexual imagery or computer viruses, not thwarting human rights abuses. Before the government agreed to abide by the AUP, Google wrote there was a 'relatively low risk' of Israel violating the policy 'as the Israel government should not be posting harmful content itself.' The second internal report also says that 'if there is a conflict between Google's terms' and the government's requirements, 'which are extensive and often ambiguous,' then 'they will be interpreted in the way which is the most advantageous to the customer.' International law is murky when it comes to the liability Google could face for supplying software to a government widely accused of committing a genocide and responsible for the occupation of the West Bank that is near-universally considered illegal. Legal culpability grows more ambiguous the farther you get from the actual act of killing. Google doesn't furnish weapons to the military, but it provides computing services that allow the military to function — its ultimate function being, of course, the lethal use of those weapons. Under international law, only countries, not corporations, have binding human rights obligations. But if Project Nimbus were to be tied directly to the facilitation of a war crime or other crime against humanity, Google executives could hypothetically face criminal liability under customary international law or through a body like the ICC, which has jurisdiction in both the West Bank and Gaza. Civil lawsuits are another option: Castellanos-Jankiewicz imagined a scenario in which a hypothetical plaintiff with access to the U.S. court system could sue Google over Project Nimbus for monetary damages, for example. Along with its work for the Israeli military, Google through Project Nimbus sells cloud services to Israel Aerospace Industries, the state-owned weapons maker whose munitions have helped devastate Gaza. Another confirmed Project Nimbus customer is the Israel Land Authority, a state agency that among other responsibilities distributes parcels of land in the illegally annexed and occupied West Bank. An October 2024 judicial opinion issued by the International Court of Justice, which arbitrates disputes between United Nations member states, urged countries to 'take all reasonable measures' to prevent corporations from doing anything that might aid the illegal occupation of the West Bank. While nonbinding, 'The advisory opinions of the International Court of Justice are generally perceived to be quite authoritative,' Ioannis Kalpouzos, a visiting professor at Harvard Law and expert on human rights law and laws of war, told The Intercept. 'Both the very existence of the document and the language used suggest at least the awareness of the likelihood of violations.' Establishing Google's legal culpability in connection with the occupation of the West Bank or ongoing killing in Gaza entails a complex legal calculus, experts explained, hinging on the extent of its knowledge about how its products would be used (or abused), the foreseeability of crimes facilitated by those products, and how directly they contributed to the perpetration of the crimes. 'Both the very existence of the document and the language used suggest at least the awareness of the likelihood of violations,' Kalpouzos said. While there have been a few instances of corporate executives facing local criminal charges in connections with human rights atrocities, liability stemming from a civil lawsuit is more likely, said Castellanos-Jankiewicz. A hypothetical plaintiff might have a case if they could demonstrate that 'Google knew or should have known that there was a risk that this software was going to be used or is being used,' he explained, 'in the commission of serious human rights violations, war crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide.' Getting their date in court before an American judge, however, would be another matter. The 1789 Alien Tort Statute allows federal courts in the United States to take on lawsuits by foreign nationals regarding alleged violations of international law but has been narrowed considerably over the years, and whether U.S. corporations could even be sued under the statute in the first place remains undecided. History has seen scant few examples of corporate accountability in connection with crimes against humanity. In 2004, IBM Germany donated $4 million to a Holocaust reparations fund in connection with its wartime role supplying computing services to the Third Reich. In the early 2000s, plaintiffs in the U.S. sued dozens of multinational corporations for their work with apartheid South Africa, including the sale of 'essential tools and services,' Castellanos-Jankiewicz told The Intercept, though these suits were thrown out following a 2016 Supreme Court decision. Most recently Lafarge, a French cement company, pleaded guilty in both the U.S. and France following criminal investigations into its business in ISIS-controlled Syria. There is essentially no legal precedent as to whether the provision of software to a military committing atrocities makes the software company complicit in those acts. For any court potentially reviewing this, an important legal standard, Castellanos-Jankiewicz said, is whether 'Google knew or should have known that its equipment that its software was being either used to commit the atrocities or enabling the commission of the atrocities.' The Nimbus deal was inked before Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, igniting a war that has killed tens of thousands of civilians and reduced Gaza to rubble. But that doesn't mean the company wouldn't face scrutiny for continuing to provide service. 'If the risk of misuse of a technology grows over time, the company needs to react accordingly,' said Andreas Schüller, co-director of the international crimes and accountability program at the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights. 'Ignorance and an omission of any form of reaction to an increasing risk in connection with the use of the product leads to a higher liability risk for the company.' Though corporations are generally exempt from human rights obligations under international frameworks, Google says it adheres to the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. The document, while voluntary and not legally binding, lays out an array of practices multinational corporations should follow to avoid culpability in human rights violations. Among these corporate responsibilities is 'assessing actual and potential human rights impacts, integrating and acting upon the findings, tracking responses, and communicating how impacts are addressed.' The board of directors at Alphabet, Google's parent entity, recently recommended voting against a shareholder proposal to conduct an independent third-party audit of the processes the company uses 'to determine whether customers' use of products and services for surveillance, censorship, and/or military purposes contributes to human rights harms in conflict-affected and high-risk areas.' The proposal cites, among other risk areas, the Project Nimbus contract. In rejecting the proposal, the board touted its existing human rights oversight processes, and cites the U.N. Guiding Principles and Google's 'AI Principles' as reason no further oversight is necessary. In February, Google amended this latter document to remove prohibitions against weapons and surveillance. 'The UN guiding principles, plain and simple, require companies to conduct due diligence,' said Castellanos-Jankiewicz. 'Google acknowledging that they will not be able to conduct these screenings periodically flies against the whole idea of due diligence. It sounds like Google is giving the Israeli military a blank check to basically use their technology for whatever they want.'
