'The military Google industrial complex': How Silicon Valley cashes in on war technology

Last Sunday, Microsoft unveiled HoloLens 2, a set of goggles that can project interactive holographic images in front of the user.

The tech giant is pitching it as a tool for education and training in medicine and manufacturing. But another purpose for the tool has some within the company up in arms.

A group of Microsoft workers is protesting the contract their employer signed with the U.S. military to provide the HoloLens technology for use in combat. The deal is worth $480 million US.

"We are alarmed that Microsoft is working to provide weapons technology to the U.S. Military, helping one country's government 'increase lethality' using tools we built," the workers wrote in an open letter posted on Twitter.

"We did not sign up to develop weapons, and we demand a say in how our work is used."

Microsoft's contract does not come as a surprise to Yasha Levine, an investigative journalist and the author of Surveillance Valley: The Secret Military History of the Internet.

Levine says Silicon Valley has always has a long history of developing technology for the military, but flashy new products are now starting drawing attention and criticism.

"It's not like these ties to the military ... are something that just popped up yesterday or even last week or even last year," he told Day 6 host Brent Bambury. "Or you know, to be frank, or even last decade."

"Remember that the Internet came out of a military project; it came out of ... what we know now as DARPA [The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency]. Back then, it was known as ARPA [and] the first Internet was called the ARPANET."

The military has long funded tech research and reaped the benefits, Levine says, adding that even certain widely-used public products from companies like Google have another version intended for the military.

"What people don't know is that ... Google Earth came out of a CIA-backed startup. Google bought that startup and renamed it Google Earth," he said.

Google also runs its own spy satellite with the U.S. government, according to Levine. While the tech giant is able to use a low-resolution version of those spy photos, the U.S. government keeps classified high-resolution images, Levine also said.

I think that generally speaking people are souring on Silicon Valley and they're souring on this Internet dream.- Yasha Levine

In the past, Microsoft has partnered with Lockheed Martin to develop a system that would power aircraft carriers.

Although the dissenting Microsoft employees say the company's latest product crosses over into weapons manufacturing, Levine is reluctant to say the HoloLens project is breaking new moral ground.

"I think it's a matter of degree," he said.

Last year, Google workers also protested when their employer entered into a contract with the Pentagon to build artificial intelligence technology for drones. The company has since ended its contract.

Levine says backlash to these contracts, and being labelled as war-profiteer, is riskier for Google than Microsoft or Amazon, which has also provided services to the Pentagon.

"Google makes its money by having us voluntarily give or give up our information ... and so very important for Google is the trust in this relationship," he said.

"It needs people to trust it implicitly without even thinking about it ... because as soon as doubt creeps in, it could hurt its bottom line."

The pushback to Silicon Valley's work with the military is just the latest iteration of people's disillusionment about technology's promise to the world, Levine said.

"I think that generally speaking people are souring on Silicon Valley and they're souring on this Internet dream," he said.

This latest outrage hints at Silicon Valley's part in the military industrial complex, Levine also said.

"Maybe we can start calling it the military Google industrial complex, or something like that."

To hear the full interview with Yasha Levine, download our podcast or click the 'Listen' button at the top of this page.