6 ms·

Weird, pretty sure employees brought this to their attention a few times already… https://apnews.com/article/microsoft-azure-gaza-palestine-israel-8820200cec59

Weird, pretty sure employees brought this to their attention a few times already… https://apnews.com/article/microsoft-azure-gaza-palestine-israel-8820200cec5996987d49fbb669322b22 https://apnews.com/article/microsoft-azure-gaza-palestine-is... https://apnews.com/article/microsoft-azure-gaza-israel-protests-49a0dd5905a1cf16eb3e19a98ca17d50 https://apnews.com/article/microsoft-azure-gaza-israel-prote... https://apnews.com/article/microsoft-build-israel-gaza-protest-worker-fired-a395ac137b74002886b2ad727b5ae5c2 https://apnews.com/article/microsoft-build-israel-gaza-prote... https://apnews.com/article/microsoft-protest-employees-fired-israel-gaza-50th-anniversary-c5b3715fa1800450b8d0f639b492495e https://apnews.com/article/microsoft-protest-employees-fired...

cl0ckt0wer 1y ago
If they act on information their employees report, they are violating their commitments.
- sc68cal 1y ago
  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.
  - meowface 1y ago
    The difference is that pre-2023 it could at least have some plausible excuse of trying to detect terrorist activity. With Israel's current actions in Gaza, there is no longer any plausible excuse or defense for any security action Israel is conducting towards Palestinians.
    - deleted 1y ago
      [deleted]
    - Aarostotle 1y ago
      Did something happen in 2023 that makes it _less_ relevant for Israel to try to prevent terrorist activity?
      - kelipso 1y ago
        [flagged]
        dotancohen 1y ago
        [flagged]
        fahhem 1y ago
        Same bogus website used earlier. Please don't copy pasta bad hasbara
        dotancohen 1y ago
        [flagged]
        SilverElfin 1y ago
        Dismissing something as a “bogus website” or attacking the source isn’t an argument. It’s a logical fallacy.
        fahhem 1y ago
        It was debunked in another comment so I didn't copy paste the debunking, sorry
        fortran77 1y ago
        [flagged]
        kelipso 1y ago
        You’re the one openly promoting genocide.
- concinds 1y ago
  No, because those employees didn't learn about it by snooping around in Azure data.
zamadatix 1y ago
Can anyone help clean up these sources/verify? The first one seems to be after Microsoft's claim "and Microsoft has said it is reviewing a report in a British newspaper this month that Israel has used it to facilitate attacks on Palestinian targets". The second one looks similar "Microsoft late last week said it was tapping a law firm to investigate allegations reported by British newspaper The Guardian". The 3rd one seems to be a genuine example that Microsoft employees were reporting this specific contract violation concern - but I feel like there are more genuine examples I've heard of than just this one report. The 4th one is a bit unclear, it seems to be a general complaint about the contract - not about specific violations of it. Perhaps the more confounding question remaining is "what was so different about the report from The Guardian". It's not like these kinds of claims are new, or in small papers only, but maybe The Guardian was able to put together hard evidence from outside that allowed Microsoft to determine things without themselves going in breach of contract details?
- covercash 1y ago
  > Perhaps the more confounding question remaining is "what was so different about the report from The Guardian". I think timing. The world is finally ready to stop ignoring what Israel has been doing so it’s significantly easier for countries, companies, and even individuals to stand up, speak out, and take action.
- michael1999 1y ago
  I think it's the latter -- Microsoft was unable to look internally, or able to pretend they were ignorant. But the Guardian report was just too detailed to ignore.
duxup 1y ago
I actually think understanding exactly how your customers do a thing is not an easy thing to be 100% sure of. I've had sales, customer reps, even engineers and customers describe how a customer / they work ... and then I go and look and ... it's not how anyone said they work IRL.
- dotancohen 1y ago
  [flagged]
  - duxup 1y ago
    I wasn't addressing any of that. More generally that knowing what your customer is doing, even if someone "tells" you, it might not be accurate.
  - Capricorn2481 1y ago
    > Would it be a better world in which Israel were not able to precisely target Hamas entities and assets They are already not doing that
  - fjdjshsh 1y ago
    50% of Gaza destroyed, 100% of the hospitals. It's a good thing they precisely targeted Hamas assets
    - dotancohen 1y ago
      [flagged]

cl0ckt0wer 1y ago

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

sc68cal 1y ago
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.
- meowface 1y ago
  The difference is that pre-2023 it could at least have some plausible excuse of trying to detect terrorist activity. With Israel's current actions in Gaza, there is no longer any plausible excuse or defense for any security action Israel is conducting towards Palestinians.
  - deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]
  - Aarostotle 1y ago
    Did something happen in 2023 that makes it _less_ relevant for Israel to try to prevent terrorist activity?
    - kelipso 1y ago
      [flagged]
      - dotancohen 1y ago
        [flagged]
        fahhem 1y ago
        Same bogus website used earlier. Please don't copy pasta bad hasbara
        dotancohen 1y ago
        [flagged]
        SilverElfin 1y ago
        Dismissing something as a “bogus website” or attacking the source isn’t an argument. It’s a logical fallacy.
        fahhem 1y ago
        It was debunked in another comment so I didn't copy paste the debunking, sorry
      - fortran77 1y ago
        [flagged]
        kelipso 1y ago
        You’re the one openly promoting genocide.
concinds 1y ago
No, because those employees didn't learn about it by snooping around in Azure data.

zamadatix 1y ago

Can anyone help clean up these sources/verify? The first one seems to be after Microsoft's claim "and Microsoft has said it is reviewing a report in a British newspaper this month that Israel has used it to facilitate attacks on Palestinian targets". The second one looks similar "Microsoft late last week said it was tapping a law firm to investigate allegations reported by British newspaper The Guardian". The 3rd one seems to be a genuine example that Microsoft employees were reporting this specific contract violation concern - but I feel like there are more genuine examples I've heard of than just this one report. The 4th one is a bit unclear, it seems to be a general complaint about the contract - not about specific violations of it. Perhaps the more confounding question remaining is "what was so different about the report from The Guardian". It's not like these kinds of claims are new, or in small papers only, but maybe The Guardian was able to put together hard evidence from outside that allowed Microsoft to determine things without themselves going in breach of contract details?

covercash 1y ago
> Perhaps the more confounding question remaining is "what was so different about the report from The Guardian". I think timing. The world is finally ready to stop ignoring what Israel has been doing so it’s significantly easier for countries, companies, and even individuals to stand up, speak out, and take action.
michael1999 1y ago
I think it's the latter -- Microsoft was unable to look internally, or able to pretend they were ignorant. But the Guardian report was just too detailed to ignore.

duxup 1y ago

I actually think understanding exactly how your customers do a thing is not an easy thing to be 100% sure of. I've had sales, customer reps, even engineers and customers describe how a customer / they work ... and then I go and look and ... it's not how anyone said they work IRL.

dotancohen 1y ago
[flagged]
- duxup 1y ago
  I wasn't addressing any of that. More generally that knowing what your customer is doing, even if someone "tells" you, it might not be accurate.
- Capricorn2481 1y ago
  > Would it be a better world in which Israel were not able to precisely target Hamas entities and assets They are already not doing that
- fjdjshsh 1y ago
  50% of Gaza destroyed, 100% of the hospitals. It's a good thing they precisely targeted Hamas assets
  - dotancohen 1y ago
    [flagged]