Overview

• Microsoft has launched an urgent, expanded external inquiry to examine claims that its Azure cloud services facilitated mass surveillance of Palestinians by Israeli military intelligence.
• A joint investigation by The Guardian, +972 Magazine and Local Call alleges Unit 8200 stored recordings of millions of Gaza and West Bank phone calls in a customised, segregated Azure area, including servers in Europe.
• Microsoft asserts that storing data obtained through broad civilian surveillance would violate its terms of service and acknowledges it has limited visibility into customer data on private or on-premises systems.
• The review will be overseen by law firm Covington & Burling with technical assistance from an independent consultant, building on a May report that found no evidence of service breaches.
• Employee activists from No Azure for Apartheid dismiss the new inquiry as a stalling tactic and continue to demand full transparency and the termination of Microsoft’s contracts with the Israeli military.