Source : NEW INDIAN EXPRESS NEWS
In addition to Microsoft, the Israeli military has extensive contracts for cloud or AI services with Google, Amazon, Palantir and several other major American tech firms.
Microsoft said the Israeli military, like any other customer, was bound to follow the company’s Acceptable Use Policy and AI Code of Conduct, which prohibit the use of products to inflict harm in any way prohibited by law. In its statement, the company said it had found “no evidence” the Israeli military had violated those terms.
Emelia Probasco, a senior fellow for the Center for Security and Emerging Technology at Georgetown University, said the statement is noteworthy because few commercial technology companies have so clearly laid out standards for working globally with international governments.
“We are in a remarkable moment where a company, not a government, is dictating terms of use to a government that is actively engaged in a conflict,” she said. “It’s like a tank manufacturer telling a country you can only use our tanks for these specific reasons. That is a new world.”
Israel has used its vast trove of intelligence to both target Islamic militants and conduct raids into Gaza seeking to rescue hostages, with civilians often caught in the crossfire. For example, a February 2024 operation that freed two Israeli hostages in Rafah resulted in the deaths of 60 Palestinians. A June 2024 raid in the Nuseirat refugee camp freed four Israeli hostages from Hamas captivity but resulted in the deaths of at least 274 Palestinians.
Overall, Israel’s invasions and extensive bombing campaigns in Gaza and Lebanon have resulted in the deaths of more than 50,000 people, many of them women and children.
No Azure for Apartheid, a group of current and former Microsoft employees, called on Friday for the company to publicly release a full copy of the investigative report.
“It’s very clear that their intention with this statement is not to actually address their worker concerns, but rather to make a PR stunt to whitewash their image that has been tarnished by their relationship with the Israeli military,” said Hossam Nasr, a former Microsoft worker fired in October after he helped organize an unauthorized vigil at the company’s headquarters for Palestinians killed in Gaza.
SOURCE :- NEW INDIAN EXPRESS
