2026-04-12 –, Seminar room 1 Language: English
With the example of the Lavender targeting system used by Israel in the Gaza genocide we explicate how systematically harmful Big Tech's infrastructure is. We propose the labour movement in tech and academia as one angle to resist such use and also to fight Big Tech at large by collective action.
Using the example of the Lavender targeting system used by Israel in the Gaza genocide we describe a horrific AI-enabled killing system used to systematically kill civilians. Lavender is only possible through the digital infrastructure provided by Amazon, Google and Palantir, to name the biggest players. There are many other examples how systematically harmful Big Tech's infrastructure is being used, e.g. ICE, police forces and militaries.
We then focus on Project Nimbus (Google and Amazon) and describe the Nimbus contract to show how AWS and Google Cloud are utilized to enable grave violence without oversight. Project Nimbus is key as it serves as a blueprint for future Big Tech military contracts, emulating the "Palestine Laboratory".
Finally, we propose the labour movement within Big Tech and academia as one angle to resist the uses described and also to fight Big Tech at large by collective action. One example is the the struggle of workers who organize with No Tech for Apartheid (NOTA) against Project Nimbus.
Rainer Rehak studied computer science and philosophy in Berlin and Hong Kong and has been working on the implications of the computerization of society for over 15 years. His research fields include fictions of technology, digitization and sustainability, convivial and democratic digital technology, epistemics of automation, and digital (de-)colonialism. Rainer is co-chair of the Forum Computer Scientists for Peace and Societal Responsibiltiy (FIfF).
Amazon worker and activist with No Tech for Apartheid