Tech, Surveillance, and Repression

Written By Guest User

Everyday, we use Big Tech products to do many important tasks. We use Google Maps to know where we are going, Amazon to buy essential goods, Microsoft to write documents, and sometimes apps like MuslimPro that help us to pray. So many of these products are “free,” but what’s in it for Big Tech? How do these corporations make money, and what are these corporations doing with our data? 

Muslim Pro

  • You have probably used an app to keep track of prayer times and figure out the qibla when in a new place. A report last year found that the Muslim prayer app Muslim Pro was selling user location data to a data broker, who then sold that data to a government contractor who specializes in tracking individuals down to their “doorstep.”

  • Though Muslim Pro is free, users do pay a price: giving them permission to make a profit off of their personal location data. With over 98 million downloads to date, Muslim Pro makes millions of dollars in profits annually off of our user data.

Zoom

  • The pandemic has made communication technology like Zoom essential in our everyday lives. Zoom has become the platform of choice for everything from corporate retreats to Friday Jummah. Zoom prides themselves in their “commitment to supporting the open exchange of ideas and conversations" but has repeatedly refused to platform activists standing up against injustice. 

  • In September 2020, Zoom shut down a seminar hosted by San Francisco State University featuring Palestinian activist Leila Khaled in response to pressure from Israel lobby group The Lawfare Project. 

  • Zoom also shut down multiple events hosted by US-based Chinese activists commemorating the violent crackdown of pro-democracy demonstrations at Tiananmen Square at the request of the Chinese government. 

Google 

  • Every time we use a Google product, Google collects our data. And Google makes money off of our data by sharing it with others. 

  • Google shares our personal data to sell ad space, which so far has been extremely profitable: last year Google made $147B in advertising. 

  • Google also shares user location data of peaceful racial justice protestors with the police in the US and of peaceful climate activists in India.

Amazon

  • You may rely on Amazon to shop online for household goods or stream your favorite movies and shows, but did you know that Amazon also develops facial recognition software and shares its Ring doorbell camera feeds with the police? 

  • Amazon Web Services, which builds out Amazon’s cloud services including its facial recognition technology, brings in the majority of Amazon’s profits, even more than Amazon’s e-commerce site. 

  • Earlier this year, it became public that Amazon contracted with a Chinese security camera company that uses facial recognition technology to identify “Uighurs with hidden terrorist inclinations.” 

  • Amazon currently contracts with over 2,000 police departments across the country to give them access to feeds from the cameras of Ring devices, Amazon’s smart doorbells.  

Microsoft

  • You may use Microsoft Office to write documents or use spreadsheets, but did you know Microsoft also invests in facial recognition technology that was used by the Israeli government? 

  • Last year, MPower Change and their partners pressured Microsoft to divest from an Israeli defense contractor that used facial recognition in the occupied West Bank, and Microsoft eventually met their demands and dropped their support of the contractor.  

Social Media

  • While we use Facebook to keep in touch with family and friends, reports have documented its role in heightening and spreading anti-Muslim hate and contributing to violence from Myanmar to India to the US. 

  • We go on YouTube- owned by Google- to learn how to make our favorite Ramadan dishes. But its business model is to keep us engaged by suggesting more videos for us to watch based on our history, so they actually make money pushing anti-Muslim content to those already watching them.

  • We can learn so much from activists on Twitter, but not when Twitter regularly suspends the accounts of activists in response to government pressure. Most recently Twitter shut down accounts in solidarity with Kashmir and of Indian activists who have been critical of the BJP-Modi government for their neoliberal farm bills that benefit corporations at the expense of farmers.

How are different orgs and communities pushing back? 

Big Tech may have their eyes on us, collecting, sharing, and selling our data, but we have the power to push back. Check out these groups and their campaigns against Big Tech and join us!

Read Action Center on Race and the Economy’s Five Points to Public Tech

Guest User