Microsoft, under continued pressure over the use of its technology by the Israeli military, said Friday that it’s launching a formal review into allegations that its cloud services were used as part of the mass surveillance of Palestinians.
The move follows the Aug. 6 reports in The Guardian, +972 Magazine and Local Call, citing sources who said the Israeli Defense Forces stored data from widespread phone monitoring of civilians in Gaza and the West Bank on Microsoft Azure servers.
The company said its terms of service would prohibit this type of usage. When the story was initially published, the company said its work with an Israeli intelligence unit was for cybersecurity purposes, and that it was not aware of any civilian surveillance.
“Microsoft appreciates that The Guardian’s recent report raises additional and precise allegations that merit a full and urgent review,” the company said in a new update to a post from May about an earlier review about the use of its technology by the Israeli military.
For the new review, Microsoft said it has engaged the law firm Covington & Burling LLP, with technical assistance from an unnamed independent consulting firm. The company promised to publicly release the findings once the process is complete.
The company said the effort will expand on the earlier review, which found no violations of its terms of service by the Israeli military. In that review, Microsoft acknowledged it had limited visibility into how its software is used on private or on-premises systems.
The announcement comes amid ongoing protests from a group called No Azure for Apartheid, consisting of current and former Microsoft employees and others who are calling for the company to end its AI and cloud contracts with the Israeli military.
Members of the group have staged repeated demonstrations at Microsoft events, arguing that the company’s technology is enabling human rights abuses against Palestinians.
UPDATE: In response to Microsoft’s announcement, No Azure for Apartheid dismissed the company’s review as a “stalling tactic” and said the inquiry does not address its core demand: that Microsoft end all cloud and AI contracts with the Israeli military.
The group reiterated its position that there is “no ethical, moral or compliant way to sell technology” to the Israeli army, citing ongoing human rights violations in Gaza and the West Bank. It vowed to continue its pressure campaign against the company.
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