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Microsoft blocks Israel’s use of its tech in mass surveillance of Palestinians

theguardian.com

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Re: Microsoft blocks Israel’s use of its tech in mass surveillance of Palestinians

#101

Post by madaxe_again »

williamdclt wrote: post #40
codeulike wrote: post #7

“I want to note our appreciation for the reporting of the Guardian,” [Microsoft’s vice-chair and president, Brad Smith] wrote, noting that it had brought to light “information we could not access in light of our customer privacy commitments”. He added: “Our review is ongoing.” Its interesting that they seem to be saying they dont know the full details of how their customers are using Azure, due to privacy commitments…

I don't know if it's _true_, but it seems right? I don't want Microsoft to have this level of visibility into my usage of Azure, just like I don't want my phone provider to eavesdrop on my conversations. I'm no privacy ayatollah, but this seems like a reasonable amount of privacy from Microsoft

Privacy ayatollah? Is that like an infosec shah?

Re: Microsoft blocks Israel’s use of its tech in mass surveillance of Palestinians

#102

Post by NooneAtAll3 »

HappyPanacea wrote: post #13
michens wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

There is no evidence whatsoever that was false flag attack. I didn't expect such blatant conspiracy theories on HN.

it's not false flag attack to know everything about preparation to the attack and then moving all protections away to let it happen

it's straight up worse

Re: Microsoft blocks Israel’s use of its tech in mass surveillance of Palestinians

#104

Post by sieep »

Aeolun wrote: post #82
sieep wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very true. I've gone on dates with a couple Jewish women over the past two or three years & they've all staunchly supported Palestine which surprised me a bit.

Why would that surprise you? I think the opposite opinion is a lot more surprising. One in every 50 children in Gaza was killed by the Israeli military. That’s like killing a child in every second classroom in the US…

That's a fair point. My gut reaction is that people will default to tribalism, but I think this has been a different situation than most others (and going on a lot longer).

Re: Microsoft blocks Israel’s use of its tech in mass surveillance of Palestinians

#105

Post by sc68cal »

cl0ckt0wer wrote: post #79
covercash wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Weird, pretty sure employees brought this to their attention a few times already… https://apnews.com/article/microsoft-azure-gaza-palestine-is... https://apnews.com/article/microsoft-azure-gaza-israel-prote... https://apnews.com/article/microsoft-build-israel-gaza-prote... https://apnews.com/article/microsoft-protest-employees-fired...

If they act on information their employees report, they are violating their commitments.

There have been public reports by major news organizations on the subject of Israel using big tech companies to surveil the West Bank and Gaza, for a decade. This isn't an issue of customer privacy.

Re: Microsoft blocks Israel’s use of its tech in mass surveillance of Palestinians

#107

Post by jfengel »

Aeolun wrote: post #71
dh2022 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What makes you think Netherlands government knows what data resides within its borders?

I don’t necessarily expect them to know what resides within their borders, I merely expect them to act against atrocities. It is no accident that all this data was located in the Netherlands.

Would it have been different elsewhere in Europe?

Re: Microsoft blocks Israel’s use of its tech in mass surveillance of Palestinians

#109

Post by sa501428 »

sieep wrote: post #58
some-guy wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It has changed quite a bit here in the US too, even among the Jewish population. Our synagogue is very divided on this, mainly between the young and the old.

Very true. I've gone on dates with a couple Jewish women over the past two or three years & they've all staunchly supported Palestine which surprised me a bit.

Why is it surprising?

Fwiw my Jewish friends have also been quite vocal in opposing Netanyahu/Likud, usually more vocal than Muslim friends.

Re: Microsoft blocks Israel’s use of its tech in mass surveillance of Palestinians

#110

Post by roughly »

bArray wrote: post #97

The issue that people have with Israel's actions is the death of civilians, not the death of Hamas, the widely recognised terrorist. I believe it also to be true that the IDF do not want to kill civilians, and that their target is only Hamas. In which case, is it prudent to remove the IDF's ability to successfully target the correct people? Precise military intelligence is absolutely necessary for minimising civilian…

> I believe it also to be true that the IDF do not want to kill civilians, and that their target is only Hamas.

I think it’s this second assertion that relies on facts not in evidence. Previous Guardian reporting on IDF use of compute for targeting indicated they were using it to increase, not decrease, the number of approved targets.

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