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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

#381

Post by skinkestek »

basilgohar wrote: post #339
skinkestek wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Leaving Quatar aside, because seriously that puzzles everyone including me: what half a dozen countries are you referring to?

Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Tunisia, Qatar and Yemen [0]. [0] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/9/10/maps-israel-has-att...

"Palestine" have declared themselves to be at war with Israel.

Syria is at war with Israel since decades.

Lebanon has been shooting rockets at Israel and preparing ground attacks. Yemen (or rather the Houtis) keep firing at Israel.

Are these the examples you want to show about Israel being bad?

Edit: Tunisia hasn't been attacked. The influencer convoy was attacked by their own flare and media claimed ot was a drone until every OSINT researchers pointed out it was a flare not a drone.

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

#382

Post by t_mahmood »

dmix wrote: post #344
dark_mode wrote: post #229

> The decision brings to an abrupt end a three-year period in which the spy agency operated its surveillance programme using Microsoft’s technology. Are we supposed to believe Microsoft was unaware of the contents but decided to terminate coincidentally when reports of what they're doing came out?

Are you asking whether Microsoft engineers routinely poke around their customer’s private clouds (including ones used by foreign intelligence agencies) to make sure everything is kosher?

Well, MS reviewed previously, and said they've seen nothing wrong, now they are saying some employees (coincidentally, Israeli) might have not been all transparent ...

> The disclosures caused alarm among senior Microsoft executives, sparking concerns that some of its Israel-based employees may not have been fully transparent about their knowledge of how Unit 8200 used Azure when questioned as part of the review.

You think, that is plausible?

To me, Nope, it's just that, the money was too good.

Only after Guardian's report, they realized:

"Oops, we got caught, now do the damage control dance"

And here we are ...

Also, are those employees going to get fired? I doubt. But the protestor, standing up for something, did. Who is more damaging?

Oh right, the protestor, because, they ruined the big cake.

Did the unit that breach the contract lose anything? Nope, they got enough time to move their data safely, and will continue doing the same thing.

It's all evil entities feeding each other, for their own benefit.

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

#383

Post by rolph »

pmontra wrote: post #362
nashashmi wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Guardian last month reported a meeting between Microsoft CEO and Unit 8200. That means this comes from high level and they did not cancel because of protestors but because of media publicity.

I guess that one needs some help to transfer "swiftly" 8000 Terabytes of data. At 1 Terabit per second it would take about 18 hours. 8000*8 Tb / 60s / 60 / 24 = .740740... 24 h *.740 = 17.76 h But is 1 Tb/s a thing? I think this has been another case of "Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes hurtling down the highway" (Andrew Tanenbaum, 1981). Maybe rack units of disks? For very important…

that would be an interesting service contract.

the rack and infra are yours; the storage media and all contents are mine.

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

#385

Post by BrenBarn »

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 problem is that if you're very very bad, you can do a good thing and still be very bad.

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

#386

Post by sugarpimpdorsey »

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.

Building a website on internal Microsoft infra that ledes with a picture of "Azure Kills Kids" is beyond the pale.

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

#387

Post by hashim »

creatonez wrote: post #272

After 2 years of genocide, and massive dissent from their own employees repeatedly warning that this was happening... Those who make holocaust tabulation machines belong in prison.

Well, to their credit, they've also seen that IBM, Volkswagen and Ford were still allowed to do plenty of business with no repercussions whatsoever (that I know of).

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

#388

Post by rolph »

cm2187 wrote: post #302
kayodelycaon wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Half the jobs I’ve worked, I’d be immediately fired if I interrupted a CEO’s speech. The other half, I’d be in serious trouble and I’d be first on any layoff.

I know a story of a guy who got fired for just talking to the CEO of his large company!

failure to use acceptable method of interdepartmental communication ?

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

#389

Post by hashim »

BrenBarn wrote: post #385
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 problem is that if you're very very bad, you can do a good thing and still be very bad.

What other reasons are Microsoft very very bad? Genuinely curious about what your definition of "very, very bad" is and whether it aligns with mine.

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

#390

Post by ahf8Aithaex7Nai »

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.

That's a very dishonest framing. The article contains some not particularly subtle relativizations in various places, e.g., “ability to use SOME of its technology,” which make it clear that Microsoft is not reacting decisively here in any way, but is trying to muddle through somehow and make a few publicly visible concessions.

Furthermore, why do you think the reactions are knee-jerk? That implies a rather biased attitude on your part.

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