Microsoft Cuts Cloud Services To Israeli Military Unit Over Palestinian Surveillance

Microsoft has trim disconnected nan Israel Ministry of Defense’s entree to immoderate of its tech and services aft an internal investigation recovered the organization appeared to be utilizing its tech to store surveillance information on phone calls made by Palestinians.  

The tech elephantine announced connected Thursday that it made nan determination to “cease and disable” certain subscriptions from nan Israeli military. This affects subscriptions to Azure unreality storage and definite AI services.  

“We do not supply exertion to facilitate mass surveillance of civilians, Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith wrote successful a blog post. “We person applied this rule successful each state astir nan world, and we person insisted connected it many times for much than 2 decades. This is why we explained publically connected August 15 that Microsoft’s modular position of work prohibit nan usage of our exertion for wide surveillance of civilians.”

Microsoft informed Israel of its determination past week, according to The Guardian.  

The determination follows Microsoft’s ongoing review of nan matter, which started successful August. The investigation was sparked by a communicative in The Guardian that reported that Unit 8200, nan elite Israel subject intelligence unit, was using Azure unreality retention to house data connected telephone calls obtained done nan surveillance of Palestinians in Gaza and nan West Bank.  

In his blog post, Smith besides said nan institution appreciated The Guardian’s initial reporting. Smith wrote that without it, they wouldn’t have known to look into the matter, as due to customer privacy rights, they can’t access a customer’s content. 

“As employees, we each person a shared liking successful privateness protection, fixed nan business worth it creates by ensuring our customers tin trust connected our services pinch stone coagulated trust,” Smith wrote.  

The institution said nan reappraisal is ongoing but declined to remark to TechCrunch regarding what was still nether review.  

Microsoft has been nether occurrence from some labor and outsiders for its engagement pinch Israel complete nan past year. Protests regarding Microsoft’s narration pinch Israel broke out at nan company’s 50th anniversary ceremony successful April. In August, respective employees staged a sit-in at Smith’s office, forcing a lockdown.  

The institution has fired multiple employees successful caller months for their activism related to Microsoft’s contracts pinch Israel.   

Topics