Google employees and human rights groups have raised concerns about the tech giant’s purchase of an Israeli start-up in an unprecedented $32bn deal.

Google on Tuesday announced the all-cash acquisition of Wiz, an Israeli cloud security firm which was founded by former members of Unit 8200, an elite Israeli army cyber-espionage and surveillance unit.

The deal comes with the Google already facing internal and external pressure over its controversial Project Nimbus contract, through which along with Amazon it provides cloud computing and AI services to the Israeli government and military.

A spokesperson for No Tech for Apartheid, a coalition of Google and Amazon workers campaigning against the companies’ involvement with Israel, said Google was “playing with fire” by buying Wiz.

    • itstoowet@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      I’m convinced my old company was complicit in this to some degree. It was a start up with absolutely silly funding for a bunch of products (b2c and b2b) that were aimed to hoover up personal information under the guise of gaming.

      For some reason we were told to start an office in Tel Aviv and to specifically hire devs from unit 8200.

    • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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      2 days ago

      As if Google isn’t already crammed with Israeli spies. In fact, that’s probably why an Israeli company just got a sweetheart buy out from Google! This is just a continuation of a pre-existing issue Google already had.

    • mina86@lemmy.wtf
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      It’s easier to get operatives to apply for a job and get hired than build a company which ends up being bought. This sounds like conspiracy theory to me. Any large US corporation likely has operatives of various countries working for it.

      • geneva_convenience@lemmy.mlOP
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        2 days ago

        Not every “conspiracy” is fiction. Anyone paying attention the last two years cannot deny that the pro-Israel positions these companies hold are completely nonsensical.

        The flowchart in Pauls article is pretty representative how Israeli spies use their position to redirect funds to Israeli companies, which then get acquired and given prominent roles in American companies and VC. Which then send more funds to Israel. Etc etc.

        AIPAC is also an amazing example of a few hundred million in Israeli bribes to politicians is sending billions of taxpayer dollars back to Israel.

        But besides politics it is extremely visible in news organizations:

        Revealed The Israeli Spies Writing America’s News

        And tech organizations:

        Revealed: The Former Israeli Spies Working in Top Jobs at Google, Facebook and Microsoft

        • mina86@lemmy.wtf
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          Nothing you wrote contradicts the observation that it’s easier to apply for a job and get it than to construct a full blown company which needs to be acquired. If there are already 99 ‘spies’ at Google, there’s hardly need for such elaborate schemes.

          • geneva_convenience@lemmy.mlOP
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            2 days ago

            The IDF soldiers do not have to apply for Google and pass the Google application entrance exam.

            Also the acquisition can happen for a far higher amount than the company’s true worth. Thus sending a lot of Google money to Israel.

            It is very doubtable Wiz is worth what Google is paying.

            Similar to how AIPAC works, the IDF spies goal is not to make money, but to invest other people’s money into Israel.

            • mina86@lemmy.wtf
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              1 day ago

              Everything you’re describing is further speculation and unfalsifiable statements for events which already have a simpler explanation. That’s a tell-tale sign of a conspiracy theory.

              Google buying the company as some kind of plot to get spies into Google requires more assumptions than Google buying the company for the technology (as it has done with plethora of other companies). If Google is somehow complicit in it, they could just hire those people directly. And if it’s all covert operation, Israel is capable of training and coaching their spies to pass Google’s interviews. Google interviews aren’t trivial, but it’s also not some super-elite company which hires only the top 0.01% of software engineers.

              If you want to convince me otherwise, you need to demonstrate why your explanation is more likely than the obvious one.