Code Pink occupies HP Government Affairs Office building over biometric sales to Israel

On the 28th of November, Code Pink protested Hewlett-Packard's sale of biometric and identity-tracking software to Israeli prisons, settlements, and the Israeli government in general for use at checkpoints. During the protest, someone came out the door of the building housing HP's Government Affairs office-and the open door let in several members of Code Pink, who stopped further traffic in and out by turning the elevator into occupied territory of a different kind.

The kind of biometric and identity verification software HP sells for use in prisons and at apartheid checkpoints in Israel and around the world rightfully should be considered malicious software when used as intended. It invoked the prior examples of IBM's sale of punchcard data systems to Nazi Germany and of computer equipment to the former Apartheid regime in South Africa. It is the worst form of complicity by both the Hewlett-Packard bosses and by the coders who write this malicious software.

Hewlett-Packard Enterprise sells the biometric ID system used at Israel's checkpoints, the entire "IT" infrastructure used by the Israeli Navy to coordinate the blockade of Gaza, and even sells directly to Israeli settlements. In addition they have contracts with ICE and with prisons throughout the US. Clearly they have no scruples about selling hardware and software whose sole purpose is to inflict misery and suffering to oppressors.

Video including elevator occupation and debate with probable HP employee