- A human rights group has filed a legal complaint with Ireland’s data watchdog, alleging Microsoft’s Azure cloud service stored a massive trove of intercepted Palestinian phone calls, enabling surveillance and potential human rights abuses.
- After the story became public, internal evidence suggests Microsoft “rapidly offloaded” this sensitive data, which critics say may have hindered regulators and involved “illegally captured” information.
- Microsoft rejects the accusations, stating its customer (the Israeli military) owned and decided to transfer the data. The company says it later ended some cloud services for this client after an internal review.
- Ireland’s Data Protection Commission is assessing the case. If found guilty of GDPR violations, Microsoft could face massive fines and be forced to change how it handles risky government contracts.
- This complaint amplifies existing pressure on Microsoft, including from shareholders and employees, over the ethics of its government work. It tests whether EU laws can hold powerful tech companies accountable when their technology is linked to conflict zone surveillance.
Microsoft is confronting significant legal and ethical pressure in the European Union (EU) following a formal complaint that accuses the tech giant of processing data used in Israel’s military surveillance of Palestinians.
The complaint, filed with Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) on Dec. 3, alleges that Microsoft’s actions enabled the transfer of sensitive surveillance material, potentially violating strict EU privacy laws.
The case centers on Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform. A recent investigation by The Guardian, alongside Israeli-Palestinian publications, revealed that a massive trove of intercepted Palestinian phone calls was stored on Microsoft servers located in the Netherlands and Ireland. This data was reportedly part of a mass surveillance operation by the Israeli military, which has long faced accusations of using technology to monitor Palestinians without due process.
The human rights group behind the complaint, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL), argues that this processing of personal data facilitated severe human rights abuses. They state that Microsoft’s technology has put millions of Palestinians in danger, enabling what they describe as real-world violence rather than being an abstract data breach.
A particularly serious allegation in the complaint involves the aftermath of the August revelations. According to internal documents and whistleblower accounts cited in the filing, Microsoft “rapidly offloaded” vast quantities of this surveillance data shortly after the story became public.
The day after the report, accounts linked to the Israeli military requested and were granted expanded data transfer limits by Microsoft support staff. This was followed by a sharp drop in the volume of stored data on the relevant Azure accounts.
Evidence shows Microsoft offloaded “illegally captured surveillance data”
Critics argue that this rapid movement of data hindered the Irish regulator’s ability to oversee material that is classified as highly sensitive under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). A separate advocacy group, Eko, which jointly filed the case, states that new evidence from Microsoft whistleblowers shows the company offloaded “illegally captured surveillance data.”
Microsoft has firmly rejected the core accusation.
The company states that its customers own their own data and that the decision to transfer the information was made solely by the Israeli client, not orchestrated by Microsoft. The firm insists this transfer did not impede its own internal investigation, which it launched after the initial reports.
By September, that internal probe led Microsoft to end some cloud services for the Israeli military.
However, the complaint notes that Microsoft continues to host other applications used by Israeli authorities. This includes a permit application that relies partly on Microsoft’s data centers in Ireland, suggesting an ongoing commercial relationship.
The Irish DPC has confirmed the complaint is under assessment. As Microsoft’s European headquarters are in Dublin, the DPC holds primary responsibility for overseeing the company’s data processing across the EU, giving the investigation substantial weight.
A potential finding against Microsoft could result in massive fines under GDPR rules and prompt a major shift in how the company vets high-risk government contracts.
The pressure is not only regulatory.
A related shareholder motion, scheduled for a vote at Microsoft’s next annual meeting, calls for a review of the company’s human rights due diligence practices. This builds on existing internal dissent.
According to BrightU.AI‘s Enoch, Microsoft fired four employees who had protested the company’s ties to the Israeli military earlier this year. The move highlights a pattern of silencing ethical concerns over controversial government work.
This EU case forces a stark confrontation between Big Tech’s lucrative government partnerships and its legal and ethical obligations.
As one of the world’s largest cloud providers, Microsoft’s actions set a precedent, making the outcome of this complaint a critical test of whether European privacy laws can hold powerful corporations accountable when their technology is linked to surveillance in conflict zones.
Watch the video below as people protest against Microsoft for being “war profiteers.”
This video is from Cynthia’s Pursuit of Truth channel on Brighteon.com.
Sources include:
TheCradle.co
Bloomberg.com
TheGuardian.com
CBSNews.com
TimesOfIsrael.com
BrightU.ai
Brighteon.com
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