Microsoft blocks Israeli spy agency's access over mass surveillance: Report

Microsoft has cut off the Israeli military's Unit 8200's access to some technology over reports that it had violated the company’s terms of service by storing mass surveillance data of Palestinians in its Azure cloud platform, The Guardian has reported. 

The report said that the Israeli military's elite spy agency used Microsoft's technology to operate a powerful surveillance system that collected data of millions of Palestinian civilian phone calls made each day in Gaza and the West Bank.

Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president and vice chair, said the company opened the review after an investigation by the Guardian newspaper alleged activity by a unit of the Israeli military.

“We do not provide technology to facilitate mass surveillance of civilians. We have applied this principle in every country around the world, and we have insisted on it repeatedly for more than two decades,” Smith said in an email to staff.

Microsoft has informed the Israeli defence ministry of its “decision to cease and disable specified IMOD subscriptions and their services, including their use of specific cloud storage and AI services and technologies.”