Microsoft to tighten human rights measures after inquiry into Israel’s use of its tech | Microsoft
Microsoft said it would tighten human rights controls while working with national security agencies following an investigation into how the Israeli military used cloud technology to conduct mass surveillance on Palestinians.
On Thursday, Microsoft announced the completion of the investigation and a series of new measures that include changes to how the company screens employees with security clearances issued by foreign governments.
Microsoft ordered the investigation last year in response to the Guardian’s investigation by Israel-Palestine publication +972 Magazine and Hebrew language output Local Search It reveals how the Israeli army used the company’s cloud to store a vast trove of intercepted Palestinian phone calls.
Shortly after the investigation was launched, Microsoft terminated the Israeli military’s access to cloud and AI services used to support its surveillance project after initial findings showed that spy agency Unit 8200 had violated the company’s terms of service.
One summary of the outcome of the investigationMicrosoft said the “factual findings remain the same” and that it would adopt a set of recommendations aimed at improving “the effectiveness of our human rights governance.”
Described as the “latest update” on the situation, the announcement seeks to highlight a difficult period in Microsoft’s history, shedding light on the role its technology played in the Israeli army’s bombing of Gaza and operations in the occupied West Bank.
The Guardian’s investigation last year revealed that Unit 8200 used Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform to run an indiscriminate system that allowed intelligence officers to collect, playback and analyze the content of millions of Palestinian mobile phone calls every day.
The revelation raised high-level concerns within Microsoft that some employees at Microsoft’s Israeli subsidiary were not being fully transparent to headquarters about their knowledge of how Unit 8200 was using the company’s technology.
Sources familiar with the investigation said it was examining how some of Microsoft’s Tel Aviv-based employees felt conflicting loyalties between their obligations to the company and their support for the Israeli military after the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel.
Microsoft announced last month that the head of its unit in Israel would leave the company. Accordingly local media reportsThis departure followed a controversy at the subsidiary regarding violations of Microsoft’s ethics rules. Some other executives were also said to have left the company.
Microsoft’s investigation summary makes no mention of staff departures. The five-page document outlines measures the company says it will adopt, such as changes to the way it reviews work “related to national security” before contracts are signed.
He also said the company would review how it manages security clearances in “certain countries” and “make changes to ensure our employees understand how to navigate security clearance requirements as part of the work they do for Microsoft.”
The Guardian has previously reported that many of the employees involved in managing Unit 8200-related projects served or were reservists of the elite surveillance unit whose mandate is equivalent to the US National Security Agency.
Other measures include periodic reviews to check whether Microsoft’s acceptable use policies are being followed by customers when there are “new political circumstances or changes to sensitive projects”, as well as steps to strengthen human rights due diligence processes in “conflict-affected and high-risk areas”.
Microsoft has previously said that senior executives such as chief executive Satya Nadella were unaware that Unit 8200 was using Azure to store intercepted Palestinian communications. He said it “does not provide technology that would facilitate mass surveillance of civilians.”
But the revelations sparked protests at the company’s US headquarters and one of its data centers in Europe, fueling demands from shareholders, NGOs and the worker-led campaign group No Azure for Apartheid for transparency in its dealings with Israeli military customers.
This week, the group staged a new wave of protests at the company’s annual conference in San Francisco, where it announced new products. Protesters held banners outside the venue saying “Microsoft allows genocide” and “Cut ties with Israel immediately.”
