Amazon faces staff backlash over work with US government
Amazon employees have joined civil rights groups and investors in protesting the company’s sale of facial recognition technology to law enforcement agencies. In a letter addressed to the company’s chief executive, Jeff Bezos, that was published by The Hill, employees wrote: “We refuse to contribute tools that violate human rights. As ethically concerned Amazonians, we demand a choice in what we build, and a say in how it is used.” The letter also criticised the data science company Palantir’s use of Amazon’s cloud computing systems to carry out work for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). 100 Microsoft employees have also written a letter to their company’s chief executive, Satya Nadella, protesting the software maker’s work with ICE. Microsoft holds a $19.4 million contract with ICE for a project relating to data processing and artificial intelligence. According to The Verge, the letter now has 300 signatories. (New York Times)
Google criticised for push against EU copyright reform
Google has sparked criticism by encouraging news publishers participating in its Digital News Initiative to lobby against proposed changes to EU copyright law at a time when the sector is increasingly turning to the search giant for help. Google opposes the copyright directive, which it says would impede the free flow of information, and in a recent email to publishers suggested they contact members of the European Parliament to express their views. In the email to the members of the DNI working group Madhav Chinnappa, Google’s director of strategic relations, wrote that the “timing is urgent” and provided a link to a directory of MEPs. “If you feel strongly about this, please consider contacting the MEPs,” he said. Jason Kint, chief executive of Digital Content Next, said the company had gone too far. “It’s outrageous that Google would once again be using a forum it publicly convened to help the publishing industry as a vehicle to lobby on behalf of Google’s own interests and confuse the market,” he said. (Financial Times*)
Supply Chain
Wilmar acts over “unethical” palm oil suppliers
Singapore’s Wilmar International, the world’s largest palm oil processor, has announced that it has ceased sourcing from suppliers that are allegedly associated with a company that was accused by Greenpeace of causing deforestation. Greenpeace had accused Gama, a palm oil business set up by Wilmar’s co-founder Martua Sitorus and his brother, of causing deforestation in Indonesia. The environmental group said analysis of trade data showed that Wilmar traded palm oil from Gama, despite being aware that Gama was violating Wilmar’s No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation (NDPE) policy by clearing rainforest. Wilmar has as of June 20 ceased sourcing from all suppliers that are allegedly associated with Gama as identified by Greenpeace, it said in a statement. It said it would not buy from any company that cannot prove to its satisfaction that they do not belong to Gama because of the alleged identified non-compliance with Wilmar’s NDPE policy. It added that it has no control or management over Gama. (Straits Times)
Lawsuits
US court dismisses climate change lawsuits against top oil companies
A California federal court has dismissed climate change lawsuits against five oil companies by the cities of San Francisco and Oakland, saying the complaints required foreign and domestic policy decisions that were outside the purview of courts. The cities of San Francisco and Oakland, California sued Chevron, Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips, Royal Dutch Shell, and BP in 2017, seeking an abatement fund to help the cities address flooding they say is a result of climate change. The dangers raised by the complainants are real and worldwide, and that both parties accepted the science behind global warming, Judge William Alsup of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California said in the ruling. “(However), the problem deserves a solution on a more vast scale than can be supplied by a District Judge or jury in a public nuisance case,” Judge Alsup said. (Reuters)
Waste
Morrisons’ paper bag switch is bad for global warming, say critics
Experts have criticised Morrisons’ decision to switch from plastic to paper bags for fruit and vegetables, branding it a retrograde step for efforts to tackle climate change. This week the supermarket ditched transparent plastic bags in favour of recyclable paper ones, in a move it said was prompted by customers’ worries over pollution. But the step is likely to have unintended consequences and trade one environmental challenge for another. The UK Environment Agency found that paper carrier bags had a greater global-warming impact than plastic ones, across their respective lifecycles. The study found paper bags were only better than plastic if they were used four or more times, but that was unlikely due to the durability of paper bags. The supermarket has said that it had weighed the environmental impact of paper against the potential pollution from plastic. “We have listened to customers and they are telling us that the overuse of plastic is the most important environmental issue for us to deal with,” a spokesperson said. (Guardian)
*Subscription required
Image source: Palm oil, an important commodity from Indonesia by Aul Rah on Flickr. CC BY 2.0.
COMMENTS