Microsoft has launched an outside probe into claims that a leading Israeli military intelligence agency conducted widespread monitoring of Palestinians using its cloud computing. The investigation comes after a joint article by Local Call, a Hebrew-language source, +972 Magazine, and The Guardian.
The article claims that Microsoft’s Azure cloud service was used by Israel’s Unit 8200 intelligence agency, which is roughly comparable to the US National Security Agency, to keep a sizable library of phone conversations that were intercepted and recorded from Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
The US officials of the computer giant were alarmed by the joint media report’s revelation of close contacts between Microsoft’s Israel headquarters and the surveillance unit, fearing that Israeli staff members may have hidden information about their involvement with Unit 8200. In collaboration with the unit, Microsoft’s Israel branch developed a unique, isolated suite on the Azure platform to house the collection of intercepted calls.
Microsoft warned in a statement that it would be against its terms of service to “use Azure for the storage of data files of phone calls obtained through broad or mass surveillance of civilians in Gaza and the West Bank.
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