Is anyone surprised? Maybe the surprising part is that she’s still alive and only got fired.
Don’t worry, she’s probably getting deported/disappeared soon.
I am pretty sure ICE and DHS are enroute to arrest her and deport her to El Salvador. Fucking gestappo c**ts. This is exactly what Rashida Tlaib, Jill Stein and Kshama Sawant wanted.
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Not surprising, also seems like lawsuit material.
In terms of Microsoft suing her?
I guess it would depend on her contract, as Microsoft do profit from war so I would doubt a libel type case would get far.
Other way around.
What grounds would she have to sue?
The fact that it’s in retaliation for her speaking out about human rights violations, when they have a clear policy against retaliating against employees who speak out about human rights violations
More importantly, with what money? Mega corporations can afford to draw out lawsuits until the end of time (or until the judge gets annoyed), but individuals can’t.
If she has a lawsuit i would be happy to bolster her legal fund and i am sure many other people too.
Cancelled Xbox game pass and installing PopOS. Fuck Microsoft
…yo yall are late to the party, been running Nobara for 3 years now on my G14, rocking the Steam Deck, only Windows machine I have is for work and believe me that thing is host file locked down and stripped.
Congratulations ig
The penguin calls, and the good folks answer.
I’ve been trying to reach you about your car’s extended warranty
Have you checked out the gaming for Linux communities on Lemmy?
Got any recommendations?
Edit, I meant to say got, not god 🤣
“play Outer Wilds”
-god, probably
???
I’ve never had an xbox before, so pardon my ignorance. But you can install linux OS’s on xbox?
No Linux on Xbox, no
Well, not on a modern Xbox. On the OG XBox however…
Ah, ok. I mean, it doesn’t even make sense, right? Could you image??? So I’ll just pass this info along to whomever it was that was so stupid they thought that was possible…what an idiot!
goes off to find a mirror
Hey, you can put Linux on many handheld gaming machines like like ASUS ROG Ally (like Bazzite OS for instance) and there are a few Linux systems that aim to fully emulate a console experience on PC. All Android phones run on Linux and you can get custom OS’s if you root them, like Lineage. So it’s not such a silly idea!
There quite a handful of IoT devices out there that will run Linux too. Many of them, in fact, run BSD by default
And the Wii can be Linuxed, if you get creative enough. Source: former roommate did it
You can get game pass for PC so, probably that way around
Ah, ok. That makes more sense.
Gotta draw the line somewhere I guess? Or is this just to make sure a Linux comment makes it into a thread about Microsoft?
I do not see how PopOS would replace Xbox game pass.
With steam it will
based
Well, what did they expect?
They probably expected their employer not to participate in genocide.
What a dummy, right?!?! \s
It was about sending a message.
What message was that? They work for Microsoft a company that has had DOD contracts for at least the last 25-30 years.
They were a war profiteer when this worker got their gig. Why is it a problem now?
Problems can be ongoing or increase in severity. Just because it’s been an issue for a while doesn’t mean it’s too late for change.
Also, some people don’t have the luxury to choose an ethical employer (if they even exist).
If you are in tech getting hired by microsoft you should have options
Ethical options?
You should be able to get hired by someone without defense contracts if that is what bothers you
…maybe.
Or, hear me out, the dude specifically applied for Microsoft with the intention of changing shit.
Do you think a non-executive hire has that ability? That’s a stretch IMO
Uh, yes? It’s not about sending a message inside MS only. It was about sending it out there. See how we’re discussing the story? Are we MS employees? Where’s my 401K?
Direct participation in the military systems for a genocide is a tad further than the military industrial complex.
The message is that people participating in genocide will not be made at the very least very uncomfortable for doing so.
They had IDF contracts for decades as well. Seriously if they had a problem with this and this is not a PR stunt by this person they are choosing an odd time to make this statement.
An active mass genocide is an odd time to make a statement?
Microsoft lied about not supplying the IDF military cloud in the past.
And AI is a far more direct contribution to genocide than excel support.
Plenty of reasons to do it now. And better now than tomorrow.
Yes because their military work has been public for decades and it isn’t as if the IDF just started becoming problematic in 2023.
Literally this
It’s like they are signaling to the world how virtuous they are
A kind of high ground moral messaging if you will
Exactly, I would get if you work for a company that just got involved in the military fields but this is microsoft.
Oh yeah, “modern day slavery has been a problem for years. Why be vocal about it now?”
Look, I am a cynical nobody, so I sometimes think “nothing will ever change.” But some brave souls, more idealistic than me, take these steps with the hope that it will spark change - or at least it will put one more straw in the camel.
So yeah, it’s about sending a message, and I think that’s important.
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It’s possible to not realize you’re complicit or not realize the depth of it.
When this happens like it did, you do briefly become someone who is getting blood money. She took this chance to interfere with their event.
She didn’t know that to start. She learned and she took action. I think the Verge had another article on her that described how she was initially excited to work for them and then realized that the circumstance.
Yeah she was working on AI auto-transcription for audio thinking ‘this will help people sort audio! Yay’ and found out it’s ‘it’ll help them sort audio of Palestinian phone calls so we can forward locations to the Israelis for bombings! No!’ Like how dynamite was supposed to be for construction and then it got turned into bombs.
How would you even screen tech work to make sure you’re not contributing to genocides by applying? Only apply to companies that explicitly say ‘Free Palestine’ on their profiles? Do they even exist in the USA? Not to mention she familiarized herself with the policy supporting human rights concerns before sending that message. The one that in a sane world would have prevented any of this from even happening (Microsoft’s involvement anyway).
I’m confused.
Yes - you are confused.
I’m confused.
I bet.
IBM had a role in the holocaust. Those numbers tattooed on everyone in the concentration camp? Those were IBM ID numbers for the punch cards.
If IBM staff protested about their role, it’s been lost to history. But it’s repeating today with Gaza and the staff who speak out are being demonized. Israel’s Lavender AI is being used to kill civilians. History will prove this woman and the other employees right in the end.
Depends who controls the narrative and how it plays out.
I still don’t think this “Lavender AI” actually exists, I think that was another scapegoat to blame their deliberate targeting of civilians on.
Why not both?
good ep of a good pod
Israel has access to WhatsApp metadata and uses it to target people based on a poorly trained Israeli AI which calls everything Hamas. This is a scapegoat because it allows them to blame the machine for killing people at random.
A machine can never be held responsible, therefore a machine must ALWAYS make management decisions
“Another fals positive? Woops! Whatever shall we do?”
Oh shit it’s true. I tought punch cards came later but its 19th century(1800s) tech.
Is Lavender AI made by Microsoft or uses Microsoft technology?
The IDF uses plenty of Microsoft technology including Azure. The details of Lavender are classified.
It is also concerning that you have not apologized to the company, and in fact you have shown no remorse for the effect that your actions have had and will have.
the fucking audacity. i mean, we all knew how it would end, but talk about 5d reverse psychology mindgames
you have not apologized to the company
Writing this should be grounds for a mandatory psych ward commitment
the email to Aboussad reads. “It is also concerning that you have not apologized to the company, and in fact you have shown no remorse for the effect that your actions have had and will have.”
Obviously there were going to fire these employees, especially the one who gave notice then did this.
But why the fuck would anyone be like “yOu DiDn’T eVeN aPoLoGiZe To ThE cOmPaNy”? That’s the stupidest god damn thing I’ve heard since “Liberation Day”
But why the fuck would anyone be like “yOu DiDn’T eVeN aPoLoGiZe To ThE cOmPaNy”?
Frame the debate. MS doesn’t have to justify their profiteering if they can talk about the employee. The attention span of the public is limited.
C-suits don’t live in the same world as the rest of us. Simple as that.
Because law. At every opportunity, make it seem like the employees were not blowing the whistle, but purposefully harming the company.
Hey, when’s the last time you showed remorse to your multi-trillion market cap employer? Next you’re gonna tell me something really outrageous like you didn’t even swear an oath of fealty to them.
Have you even said Thank You?!?
Apologized? Did they berate her for not “wearing a suit” too?
Or speaking without permission with a vagina?!
The impertinence!
What about “you haven’t even thanked us!” to Zelensky?
Same energy.
That email was almost certainly written by lawyers with the intention of supporting MS in court, should it come down to that.
Bingo. Lots of stupid things at this level boil down to legal protection. You’ll see it everywhere once you learn and look.
“Lucky we’re not countersuing! Oh the damages you are certain to be causing in the futureeee, the burns”
Actually now that I think about it maybe this was a multimillion dollar protest. The headlines have been published for and wide. I bet a few people spent more time feeling guilty than working right after as well - imagine one of them quitting. Still somewhat hard to believe it would lose them contracts but perhaps there will be potential customers who want to avoid connection with Microsoft until this blows over.
that makes sense. i hate the fact that such a blatant play at covering your bases could hold up in any court. no matter the legal fineprint, it takes two functioning braincells to realise what’s going on here
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Exactly what a war profiteer would do.
I would have been surprised if they hadn’t fired her. Good on those two for causing a ruckus for a cause they believe in though. Nonviolent one too, well done.
They were probably going to quit over personal morality anyway, so good for them for using their exit for positive. At least they can leave with their self-respect and dignity intact, and the respect of their co-workers and the world. Somewhere there is a moral employer who will appreciate them.
Microsoft has recently been added to the BDS list. Do not forget to give their apps a review.
Only trouble is Microsoft clearly doesn’t care about negative reviews of their applications, because they’ve been receiving negative reviews for years now.
It’s not like you can even avoid using their products, personally you can install Linux but you’re probably going to still have to use a Windows device at work, and business is where they make most of their profit anyway.
They still have presence in for example the Play store. A review can cost little time to place, yet it can affect a lot. Though avoid mentioning certain words censored by the play store.
Is “id rather take a shot to the back of the throat from Andy Dick, than be stuck using Microsoft Office” approved for the app store?
It’s mildly entertaining at times to scroll through the reviews of the HEIF Image Extension in the Microsoft Store. Microsoft doesn’t care one bit how bad they are.
Yeah, work is where they get you. I’m fortunate to be able to use Linux at work too, but the company is still paying for my M365 account which I use in a browser for meetings and communication.
I am not worried about the firing part. This lady and her friends must have been added to the DHS list. They are going to deport her if she is on any visa or PR.
We have been deporting citizens for years.
https://immigrationimpact.com/2021/07/30/ice-deport-us-citizens/
And it’s still bad.
That was by mistake. This lady will be deported with intent to the infamous El Salvador prison.
The fact that she’s a lady might actually save her from that hellish place because they apparently refuse to take women and turn them back. But of course there are other hellish places.
These things are never by mistake. Due Process limits mistakes. Refusing to do Due Process is intentional.
There is no such thing as “free speech” under capitalism.
sounds like you don’t know what free speech is
It doesn’t seem they are using free speech in the same sense as the American first amendment (they may not be from the USA). But i would argue that if companies want to play politics, run countries, and be that integrated in people’s lives then free speech as a concept should extend to companies.
As a not-American we don’t say we have freedom of speech, we say we have protected speech and that is more inline with what you want
Yeah, about not being sent to a gulag for criticising the goberment
Shhhhh… Get out of here with your nuance. Let them screech about the bad private company violating the First Amendment.
It makes the monkeys feel better.
Edit:
That was the opposite of nuance. It was pedantry that deliberately missed the point.
Let them screech about the bad private company violating the First Amendment.
How many billions of dollars in government contracts do you need to receive before the line blurs? Microsoft might as well be a subsidiary of the Federal Bureaucracy, given the role it plays in national security, infrastructure, and data management. The US government is its biggest client by far.
Jerk harder!
Genocide Profiteer not War Profiteer
Fuck you Microsoft, if I wasn’t already done with you for completely enshittifying your operating system, I would DEFINITELY be done with you for this.
Fuck off and continue to become a Kodak or Yahoo or other still existing washout company that totally lost the plot.
What happened to Kodak?
Kodak went from being a major player in the photography industry to being completely blindsided by digital photography.
Willfully blind. Eastman Kodak invented the first digital camera in 1975, but decided to focus on their existing, profitable product lines. Clayton Christensen describes the process in The Innovator’s Dilemma.
Yes, this is basically every large US tech company right now
Of course they did
