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    Microsoft blocks Israel’s use of its tech in mass surveillance of Palestinians

    (www.theguardian.com)
    873 points helsinkiandrew | 15 comments | 25 Sep 25 15:06 UTC | HN request time: 0.493s | source | bottom
    1. Cenk ◴[25 Sep 25 15:18 UTC] No.45373771[source]▶
    > 11,500 terabytes of Israeli military data – equivalent to approximately 200m hours of audio – was held in Microsoft’s Azure servers in the Netherlands
    replies(3): >>45374382 #>>45374428 #>>45374677 #
    2. Aeolun ◴[25 Sep 25 15:55 UTC] No.45374382[source]▶
    It bothers me more that it was held in the Netherlands than that it was held on Azure servers.

    It’s a fucking disgrace to any government to be facilitating anything like this, and the Netherlands seems extra complicit.

    replies(2): >>45374438 #>>45374484 #
    3. dh2022 ◴[25 Sep 25 15:58 UTC] No.45374428[source]▶
    I wonder why IDC choose the Netherlands location. Microsoft has one Azure region in Israel itself: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/reliability/regions-...
    replies(4): >>45374475 #>>45374549 #>>45374640 #>>45378984 #
    4. dh2022 ◴[25 Sep 25 15:58 UTC] No.45374438[source]▶
    What makes you think Netherlands government knows what data resides within its borders?
    replies(1): >>45374510 #
    5. honeycrispy ◴[25 Sep 25 16:00 UTC] No.45374475[source]▶
    Safer from ballistics
    6. bilekas ◴[25 Sep 25 16:01 UTC] No.45374484[source]▶
    But why do you think the Netherlands govt was in anyway involved in this? I host some bsremetal in the Netherlands but I don't need to report to the government what I store..
    7. Aeolun ◴[25 Sep 25 16:02 UTC] No.45374510{3}[source]▶
    I don’t necessarily expect them to know what resides within their borders, I merely expect them to act against atrocities. It is no accident that all this data was located in the Netherlands.
    replies(2): >>45374719 #>>45384142 #
    8. smileybarry ◴[25 Sep 25 16:04 UTC] No.45374549[source]▶
    The Israel Azure region wasn't launched until 2023, and AFAIK has substantially less services available than the others. I know Google's Israel region doesn't have as many GPU options, for example.
    9. AlfredBarnes ◴[25 Sep 25 16:10 UTC] No.45374640[source]▶
    Why build something near or semi near conflict?
    replies(1): >>45374831 #
    10. ballenf ◴[25 Sep 25 16:12 UTC] No.45374677[source]▶
    How much would the bill be for this?
    11. jfengel ◴[25 Sep 25 16:14 UTC] No.45374719{4}[source]▶
    Would it have been different elsewhere in Europe?
    12. serialNumber ◴[25 Sep 25 16:22 UTC] No.45374831{3}[source]▶
    Valid question, but just look at the huge amount of R&D / the tech companies in Israel. Even if it’s near conflict, I don’t think companies care
    replies(1): >>45378305 #
    13. darkwater ◴[25 Sep 25 20:10 UTC] No.45378305{4}[source]▶
    A company doesn't care. An army does.
    14. warrenmiller ◴[25 Sep 25 20:58 UTC] No.45378984[source]▶
    might have something to do with the Netherlands being a large investor in Israel. the largest in the EU. It's responsible for two-thirds of EU investment in Israel. https://www.somo.nl/economic-sanctions-eu-is-israel-largest-...
    15. Antibabelic ◴[26 Sep 25 08:27 UTC] No.45384142{4}[source]▶
    It was located in the Netherlands because the Netherlands has excellent privacy and data protection laws. It's the same reason so much cybercrime is traced back to Dutch servers.