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

(www.theguardian.com)
873 points helsinkiandrew | 7 comments | 25 Sep 25 15:06 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source | bottom
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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
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1. 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 #
2. honeycrispy ◴[25 Sep 25 16:00 UTC] No.45374475[source]▶
Safer from ballistics
3. 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.
4. AlfredBarnes ◴[25 Sep 25 16:10 UTC] No.45374640[source]▶
Why build something near or semi near conflict?
replies(1): >>45374831 #
5. serialNumber ◴[25 Sep 25 16:22 UTC] No.45374831[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 #
6. darkwater ◴[25 Sep 25 20:10 UTC] No.45378305{3}[source]▶
A company doesn't care. An army does.
7. 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-...