Overview

• A joint August 6 investigation by The Guardian, +972 Magazine and Local Call revealed Unit 8200 stored recordings of millions of Palestinian phone calls in a customised Azure environment
• On August 15, Microsoft launched an expanded external review engaging law firm Covington & Burling and independent technical advisers to probe the new allegations
• Microsoft’s terms of service bar using Azure for mass surveillance of civilians, but the company admits it lacks full visibility into customer-held data and its May review found no violations to date
• Senior executives are probing whether Israel-based employees concealed information about Unit 8200’s Azure use during the earlier external assessment
• Employee activists with No Azure for Apartheid criticize the new review as a stalling tactic and continue to press Microsoft to end its contracts with the Israeli military