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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

#321

Post by skinkestek »

ARandumGuy wrote: post #208
dotancohen wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But isn't that what Hamas did? Broke into homes and burned babies to death? Beheaded people? Pulled fetuses from pregnant women? Shoot up clinics and murder the entire staff and patients?

Nothing Hamas has done justifies what Israel is doing to Palestinian civilians, because collective punishment is a war crime. "But they did it first" is not a valid excuse, especially when trying to excuse mass starvation and bombing population centers.

Under 60 000 British died during the Bliz.

350 000 to 500 000 Germans died in allied bombing.

Did the Germans become the good guys when the German civilian death toll exceeded the UK death toll?

Or even just when US got involved since Germany hadn't attacked US civilians?

No?

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

#322

Post by kayodelycaon »

Forgeties79 wrote: post #252
sugarpimpdorsey wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a funny way to say "they fired staff that vandalized company property, broke into the CEO's office, and used an internal company website to publish and promote anti-company propaganda". That will get you fired from bussing tables or washing dishes, let alone a six-figure job at MS. Edit: Source on the last one; the first two were widely reported on in media: https://lunduke.substack.com/p/fired-microsoft-emplo…

Every protest we praise in history broke the law at some point. “Promote company-hating propaganda” is an interesting way to describe what happened.

I think laws enforced by the government are a difference in kind from social standards or company rules.

Laws are backed by legal, physical violence.

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

#323

Post by thewebguyd »

t1amat wrote: post #257
nashashmi wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One protestor was fired after interrupting a CEO's speech.

You might have 1A rights as an American but it seems to me the manner in which this person protested would be grounds for termination in many jurisdictions.

1A doesn't apply to private entities anyway. 1A protects against government prosecution for your speech, and the government may make no laws "abridging the freedom of speech."

But your employer? They can put whatever rules and restrictions they want on your speech, and with at-will employment, can fire you for any reason anyway, at anytime.

You can say whatever you want, but you aren't free from the consequences of that speech.

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

#324

Post by dotancohen »

pessimizer wrote: post #213
dotancohen wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But isn't that what Hamas did? Broke into homes and burned babies to death? Beheaded people? Pulled fetuses from pregnant women? Shoot up clinics and murder the entire staff and patients?

> Broke into homes and burned babies to death? Beheaded people? Pulled fetuses from pregnant women? It's important to note that these things never happened, and you're still repeating them years later. The only baby that died on 10/7 was a 10 month old hit by crossfire. I have no idea of the third, and though I feel sure it's wrong judging by the rest of what you have said, I feel obligated to check. Try it.

  > It's important to note that these things never happened
You are invited to read about it yourself:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67629181

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

#325

Post by hersko »

greenie_beans wrote: post #294
myth_drannon wrote: post #215

I guess time to buy more Oracle or Google stocks? They can easily provide more than needed, especially Oracle which is very friendly to Israel and Ellison is a big supporter of IDF (large donations to "Friends of the IDF" non-profit). Here is a link in case anyone wants to donate https://www.fidf.org to this amazing organization.

makes sense to do if you support genocide

https://www.jfeed.com/analysis/gaza-nutella-cafe-reality

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

#327

Post by dotancohen »

LightBug1 wrote: post #216
dotancohen wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But isn't that what Hamas did? Broke into homes and burned babies to death? Beheaded people? Pulled fetuses from pregnant women? Shoot up clinics and murder the entire staff and patients?

Getting away from the debate around your details (most of which didn't happen) ... A singular terrorist event is not the same as an multi-decade occupation, on-going theft of land, discrimination, annexation plans, and - not least - a 2 year long genocide of tens of thousands of civilians. So, no, that isn't what Hamas did.

  > most of which didn't happen
Even the BBC, a generally anti-Israel organization, has reported on it:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67629181

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

#328

Post by duxup »

snickerdoodle14 wrote: post #312
duxup wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like interrupting a CEO's speech at a big conference is pretty well understood to be a social indicator of a high level of insubordination. I suspect the protestor knew that too. The consequences were appropriate, even if I might share some of the protestor's concerns.

> insubordination Are we talking about the military or some company?

I think that term can be / is used for individuals at companies.

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

#329

Post by thisislife2 »

politelemon wrote: post #93

I am seeing several kneejerk "Microsoft bad" reactions here, which HNers don't do for many other companies. I encourage many of you to read what is written. They listened to their internal staff and stakeholders and public pressure, and did terminated the contract instead of ignoring it or doubling down. That is a good thing.

> The project began after a meeting in 2021 between Microsoft’s chief executive, Satya Nadella, and the unit’s then commander, Yossi Sariel ... In response to the investigation, Microsoft ordered an urgent external inquiry to review its relationship with Unit 8200. Its initial findings have now led the company to cancel the unit’s access to some of its cloud storage and AI services.

"Some" ... Microsoft's chief executive was involved in cementing a collaboration for a secret military / intelligence project with an AI component, to spy on people against whom a genocide is ongoing by their colonial occupiers. This only "ended" when the public became aware of it, for political and (possibly) legal reasons, clearly indicating that they would have continued with "business as usual" if the public hadn't become aware of it. What other Israeli projects are Microsoft hiding and supporting, that possibly aids Israel's genocide, is what concerns me ...

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

#330

Post by IlikeKitties »

hnlmorg wrote: post #279
IlikeKitties wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've personally never seen anything requiring confidential computing in anything. Is this required in the USA? I find that hard to believe, because the technology on a cloud level is still very beta-feeling. I think that Microsoft just never looked because they did not want to know.

They have services literally dedicated to things like health data records. But you don’t even need to go that sensitive, literally any type of online service might run the risk of handling PII. Which is why CIS, NIST et al have security frameworks that cover things like encryption at rest.

But encryption at rest is not confidential compute. And Confidential compute is pretty new in terms of tech and i would be genuinely suprised if it's already required for some stuff. I am genuinely interested though, if you have any links about it please enlighten me.
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