A story of maltreatment, resistance, and survival

Ethics in Tech & Lack Thereof

Sleeping Under the Cell Tower

By Vahid Razavi

A first-person account from inside Amazon Web Services and Silicon Valley. A startup founder and employee's journey through Big Tech, and what it cost.

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Free book Book cover of Ethics in Tech & Lack Thereof: Sleeping Under the Cell Tower by Vahid Razavi
Vahid Razavi at a community event (opens in a new tab)
Vahid Razavi speaking at a community event.

The story

A compelling story from inside the technology industry

From founding the cloud-computing startup BizCloud, to a trademark lawsuit brought by one of the industry's giants, to working inside Amazon Web Services, Vahid Razavi lived the promises and the failures of Silicon Valley from the inside.

“Sleeping Under the Cell Tower” is not a business book. It is a survivor's account.
Meet the author
Front cover of Ethics in Tech & Lack Thereof

About the book

Ethics in Tech & Lack Thereof: Sleeping Under the Cell Tower

Vahid Razavi's compelling story as an Amazon Web Services employee. From founding BizCloud in the shadow of a trademark lawsuit by CSC, to working inside AWS, to breakdown, recovery, and rebirth as a technology-ethics activist. This is a personal, unflinching account of what the technology industry does to the people inside it.

Inside the book

  • Founding and losing BizCloud
  • The CSC trademark lawsuit
  • Life inside Amazon Web Services
  • Rendition, surveillance, and Big Tech contracts
  • Mental health and survival in the industry
  • The birth of Ethics In Tech activism
  • 23 chapters
  • 3 languages: English, Español, Srpski
  • Free to read & download
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Why it matters

Why this story matters

Ethics & accountability

What happens when the world's most powerful companies lose sight of the humans behind the metrics.

The human cost

Corporate decisions have consequences for employees, founders, and the communities technology claims to serve.

Founders & employees

A rare first-person view from both sides: building a startup, and surviving inside a trillion-dollar company.

Innovation vs. values

Technology's creative potential is vast. So is its capacity for harm when profit outruns principle.

Portrait of author Vahid Razavi

The author

Vahid Razavi

Iranian-American author, technologist, and digital-rights activist. Former Senior Alliances Manager at Amazon Web Services and founder of BizCloud, Vahid founded Ethics In Technology and has organized hundreds of events on the social impact of the tech industry.

“I hope to empower the public with the information to enable all of us to urge technology firms to use the great financial and cultural power they wield for positive ends.”
Meet Vahid

Free in three languages

Read the book in your language

EN
EnglishEnglish
Read onlineDownload PDF (3.4 MB) - English edition, PDF
ES
SpanishEspañol
Read onlineDownload PDF (1.7 MB) - Spanish edition, PDF
SR
SerbianSrpski
Read onlineDownload PDF (1.0 MB) - Serbian edition, PDF
“This book tells my circuitous and tragicomic journey through Big Tech, as a startup founder and as an employee. While I appreciate the vast creative potential of new technologies, I critique aspects of the industry that I observed that lose sight of human values in the quest for profits and market share.”
Vahid Razavi, from the Foreword

Beyond the book

Ethics In Tech

The book gave rise to a movement. Ethics In Tech publishes articles and hosts events on technology's impact on society: surveillance, labor, ethics, and power.

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