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Re: OT: Mentally ill progressives call for boycott of Microsoft and Xbox

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CrudeSausage wrote:
> <https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/bds-calls-for-boycott-of-microsoft-and-xbox-gaming-products-over-alleged-israeli-military-connections> 
> 
> 
> The international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement are calling 
> on people to cancel Game Pass subscriptions, avoid Microsoft-owned video 
> game properties such as Minecraft and Call Of Duty, and boycott all 
> Microsoft Gaming and Xbox-branded products in protest at the company’s 
> reported business connections with the Israeli military.
> 
> The call follows allegations this January about the Israeli military’s 
> usage of Microsoft’s Azure cloud technology and artificial intelligence 
> products in the course of its bombardment and invasion of Gaza.
> 
> According to a joint investigation between the Guardian, 
> Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine and Hebrew-language outlet 
> Local Call, with additional reporting from Drop Site News, Microsoft 
> have “deepened” their relationship with Israel’s defence establishment 
> since 7th October 2023, when several Palestinian militant groups struck 
> across the border and massacred over a thousand people. Israel responded 
> to the attack by mounting a ground offensive and airstrikes that have 
> destroyed much of Gaza and killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.
> 
> In their January 2025 write-up, the Guardian claim that Microsoft have 
> supplied the Israeli Defense Forces with storage and computing services 
> and struck “at least $10m in deals to provide thousands of hours of 
> technical support”. The piece continues that “while the IDF has used 
> some Microsoft services for administrative purposes, such as email and 
> file management systems, documents and interviews suggest Azure has been 
> used to support combat and intelligence activities.”
> 
> The joint investigation alleges the use of Microsoft technology by 
> Israeli security forces to manage the population registry and movement 
> of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. It further claims that 
> Microsoft have supplied a “suite of communications and messaging 
> systems” for managing databanks of potential airstrike targets. 
> Microsoft have also reportedly given the Israeli military “large-scale 
> access” to OpenAI’s GPT-4 “in recent years”.
> 
> Neither the Israeli military nor Microsoft commented on the Guardian 
> report at the time of its publication.
> 
> According to Drop Site, two former Microsoft employees, Abdo Mohamed and 
> Hossam Nasr, have been instrumental in driving this week’s BDS call for 
> a boycott of Microsoft’s gaming offerings. As reported by the Guardian, 
> Microsoft fired the pair in October 2024 after they organised a vigil 
> for Palestinians killed in Gaza outside the company’s headquarters in 
> Redmond, Washington.
> 
> This isn't the first time BDS have protested Microsoft's alleged 
> connections to Israeli military or security organisations. In 2020, they 
> and other civil liberty groups spoke out against Microsoft's stake in 
> AnyVision, an Israeli start-up whose face recognition technology has 
> been used at checkpoints in border crossings between Israel and the West 
> Bank. Microsoft later sold their stake and announced that they would 
> exit the business of investing in facial recognition startups altogether.
> 
> BDS are now making the games publisher a “priority target” in response 
> to this January's allegations. You can read more about the boycott over 
> on the BDS website. I've asked Microsoft for comment.
> 
how did the boy get cott

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OT: Mentally ill progressives call for boycott of Microsoft and Xbox CrudeSausage <crude@sausa.ge> - 2025-04-07 21:43 -0400
  Re: OT: Mentally ill progressives call for boycott of Microsoft and Xbox % <pursent100@gmail.com> - 2025-04-07 19:09 -0700
  Re: Mentally ill Microsoft fans suffer Linux envy, again Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2025-04-08 02:47 +0000
    Re: Mentally ill Microsoft fans suffer Linux envy, again CrudeSausage <crude@sausa.ge> - 2025-04-08 08:38 -0400
      Re: Mentally ill Microsoft fans suffer Linux envy, again Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2025-04-08 21:10 +0000

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