Citing ethical concerns and employee protests against complicity in war crimes.
Photo credit: Brian Eno – Facebook
Brian Eno has published an open letter to Microsoft, urging the company to suspend its technology partnerships with the Israeli military.
Eno, who composed the start-up chime for Microsoft’s Windows 95 operating system, shared the letter on May 20th. He addressed the company not as a composer but as “a citizen alarmed by the role Microsoft is playing in a very different kind of composition: one that leads to surveillance, violence, and destruction in Palestine.”
His message responds to a May 15th statement from Microsoft, which confirmed that Israel’s Ministry of Defence uses Azure AI software and cloud services for intelligence work, including the translation and processing of data gathered through mass surveillance. While Microsoft said it does not track customer use of its software, Eno called on the company to halt these services, arguing: “If you knowingly build systems that can enable war crimes, you inevitably become complicit in those crimes.”
The artist also expressed support for Microsoft employees who have protested the company’s practices and pledged to donate his original fee for composing the Windows 95 chime to aid victims in Gaza. He concluded: “We now live in an age where corporations like Microsoft often command more influences than governments. I believe that with such power comes an absolute ethical responsibility.”
Eno has long spoken out against Israel’s policies and supported the Boycott, Divest, Sanction (BDS) movement since 2014. Earlier this month, he joined over 200 artists in calling on London festival Field Day to address its ties to private-equity firm KKR.
Read Eno’s full statement below.
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