Microsoft cuts the cloud services of Israeli military unit over Palestinian surveillance

Microsoft interrupted Israel’s Ministry of Defense access to some of its technologies and services after an internal investigation has found that the organization seems to use its technology to store data to monitor telephone calls made by Palestinians.

The technical giant announced on Thursday that it had decided to « terminate and disable » certain subscriptions from the Israeli military. This affects the Azure Cloud Storage subscriptions and some AI services.

« We do not provide technology to facilitate the mass monitoring of civilians, » writes Microsoft’s deputy chairman and President Brad Smith in a blog publication. « We have applied this principle in every country in the world and we have repeatedly insisted on more than two decades. Therefore, on August 15, we have explained publicly that Microsoft’s standard conditions forbid our use of our technology for mass monitoring of civilians. »

Microsoft informed Israel about his decision last week, according to The Guardian.

The decision follows the current Microsoft review of the issue, which began in August. The investigation was triggered by a history in The Guardian, which reports that the 8200 department, the elite Israeli military intelligence, uses Azure Cloud Storage to shelter telephone call data obtained through the monitoring of the Palestinians in the Gaza and the West Coast.

In his blog post, Smith also said the company evaluated Guardian’s initial reporting. Smith wrote that without it, they would not know that they were addressing the issue, because due to customer confidentiality rights, they could not gain access to the client’s content.

« As employees, we all have a shared interest in protecting confidentiality, given the value of the business it creates, ensuring that our customers can rely on our services with Rock Solid Trust, » Smith writes.

The company said the review was going on, but declined to comment on TechCrunch about what was still reviewed.

Microsoft has been firing by both employees and outsiders for his participation in Israel in the last year. Protests regarding Microsoft’s relationship with Israel erupted on the festival of the company 50 in April. In August, several employees organized a meeting at the Smith office, forcing blocking.

The company has fired numerous employees in recent months for their activism related to Microsoft’s contracts with Israel.