Washington (AP) – Microsoft On Thursday, it said it disabled service on an internal unit. Israeli Army After the company review has been decided artificial intelligence Cloud computing products were used to help implement large-scale surveillance of Palestinians.
The action revealed that after the Associated Press and the Guardian published a report earlier this year, it revealed how the Israeli Ministry of Defense used Microsoft’s Azure platform to support the war and war in Gaza. Occupation of the West Bank. Microsoft’s vice-chairman and president Brad Smith wrote in a blog post that the company is taking steps to ensure compliance with the terms of use.
an AP Survey In February, the use of the Israeli military’s Microsoft products surged after a fatal surprise attack by Hamas extremists on October 7, 2023. The AP report cited internal Microsoft data showing Israelis using cloud storage and large amounts of gigabytes of AI-enabled language translation services.
The AP also reported that Israeli military used Microsoft Azure to compile information collected through mass surveillance. That information will be cross-checked with Israeli in-house AI systems to target airstrikes.
The AP reported that internal Microsoft data showed that multiple Azure subscriptions were tied to Unit 8200, the Israeli military’s elite cyber warfare unit responsible for secret operations, collecting signal intelligence and surveillance.
Following the AP report, Microsoft approved In May, during the Gaza War, they sold advanced AI and cloud computing services to Israeli forces, supporting efforts to find and rescue Israeli hostages. However, the company said in an internal review it found that the Azure platform was being used to target or harm people as “no evidence.”
The Guardian works in partnership with Israeli and Palestinian Publications +972 Magazine and Hebrew Outlet Local Call. Reported in August The commander of Unit 8200 met in person with Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella in 2021. The Israeli Unit then used Microsoft products to help develop an AI-powered mass surveillance system that swept, translated and analyzed millions of phones created per day by Palestinian civilians. The report also revealed that data from the Israeli surveillance system is stored in Microsoft Cloud Data Centers in Europe.
Following the Guardian report, Microsoft has now asked an external law firm to review it for the second time. The review is still ongoing, but Smith said Thursday that the investigation revealed evidence that the product was being used in violation of its terms of use. However, Smith did not name any particular Israeli units that would lose access to Microsoft Services.
Microsoft declined to answer detailed questions from the Associated Press on Thursday, including whether unit 8200 was involved. The company also does not answer how it would guarantee that Israeli forces will simply transfer mass surveillance operations to any of the hundreds of other Azure subscriptions under its control.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Hossam Nasr, one of more than 12 Microsoft employees Dismissal or Arrest He called Thursday’s announcement a “significant and unprecedented victory” after protesting the company’s involvement in the war in Gaza. But he said, that wasn’t enough.
“Microsoft has disabled a small subset of services for only one unit of the Israeli Army,” said Nasr, host of Azure No Azure at Apartheid. “The majority of Microsoft’s contracts with the Israeli military remain the same.”
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Mednick reported from Burke in Jerusalem and San Francisco.
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