Professor of Data Science Djoerd Hiemstra can no longer be reached through his standard Radboud University email address. Anyone emailing him at this address is referred to a page explaining that he believes Microsoft is enabling genocide in Gaza. Hiemstra hopes students and staff will follow his example.

‘This is an automatic reply. To protest the genocide in Gaza, I refuse to read email sent to…’ Anyone who emails Professor of Data Science Djoerd Hiemstra at his ru.nl address will receive this auto-reply with a link pointing to a webpage titled Radboud against Microsoft.

On the page in question, Hiemstra explains why he does not want to use Microsoft’s email service and how other people can set up a similar auto-reply.

‘If you know how Microsoft get their money, you can hardly help but protest against it,’ Hiemstra says. He refers on his page to media coverage of the use of the Microsoft Cloud in airstrikes on Gaza and to an article in The Guardian that states that a database of phone calls between Palestinians is stored on Microsoft servers. That database is used to locate Palestinians during airstrikes.

Defence supplier

‘Microsoft makes a lot of money from this partnership, it is simply a supplier of defence to Israel and other countries,’ says Hiemstra. His alternative to the ru.nl email is the email address associated with the Faculty of Science, which has its own email server that does not run on Microsoft software.

Hiemstra: ‘Thanks to that email server, I have an alternative. That is why I can engage in this kind of protest. Students and employees at other faculties who want to do the same have to use addresses outside the university. That is perhaps an even stronger form of protest.’

Dangerous protest

Hiemstra says he mainly wants to send a signal. ‘I am extremely shocked that other forms of protest on the Nijmegen campus are sometimes ended by riot police. Although we are all supposed to be equal at this University, it seems that it is more dangerous for students to protest. This protest via email is less dangerous.’

‘What is the worst thing Microsoft has to do before you stop using their products?’

In addition to Microsoft’s involvement in Gaza, objections have previously been raised concerning Radboud University’s reliance of Microsoft. Hiemstra supports these objections. ‘We are dealing with an untrustworthy US government that can order Microsoft to disconnect certain Chinese universities or cut an employee of the International Criminal Court off from their services.’

‘So there are moral and ethical reasons to stop using Microsoft at this University,’ says Hiemstra. ‘You can also ask yourself: what is the worst thing Microsoft has to do before you stop using their products?’

Breaking ties

The Professor does not yet know how long he will sustain his protest. ‘I think I will continue until the University cuts all ties with companies and organisations named by the UN special rapporteur.’ Apart from Microsoft, that list includes HP, Google, Amazon, IBM, and Booking.com.

Regarding the need to sever ties with these companies Vice President of the Executive Board Agnes Muskens recently said that they are so well established that it would be ‘quite a task to sever ties with them’.

Hiemstra finds this statement surprising. ‘I think almost nobody depends on Windows. There are good alternatives. Surely the fact that something is a challenge should never be a reason to keep buying products from companies that enable war crimes?’

Responses

At the time of our interview with Hiemstra, his auto-reply has been on for less than a week. During that week, he already received several responses from colleagues who did not know how involved Microsoft was in Israeli defence. He also noticed which automated systems send emails to his Radboud address. ‘I know a lot of automatic and necessary mails go to the ru.nl address, which you can have forwarded to your alternative address.’

‘I don’t want to advise or force people to ignore all emails. It’s all about sending out a signal. If you occupy a street, you also let ambulances through. I do secretly hope many people will follow my example so that the auto-reply helps everyone on campus become aware of how complicit Microsoft is.’