Israel demanded Google and Amazon use secret code to control data – The Guardian
Kyiv • UNN
Documents show that during a $1.2 billion deal in 2021, Israel demanded that Google and Amazon implement a secret "winking" mechanism.
Documents show that during a $1.2 billion cloud computing deal in 2021, the Israeli government required Google and Amazon to implement a secret mechanism, known as a "wink," to receive signals about the transfer of Israeli data to foreign courts or investigators. This is stated in a material by The Guardian, writes UNN.
Details
The mechanism involved encoded messages in the form of payments to the Israeli government "within 24 hours of the information transfer," the amounts of which corresponded to the telephone codes of the countries to which the data was transferred.
We feared that Google or Amazon might succumb to pressure from employees or shareholders and deny Israel access to their products and services if it was linked to human rights violations in the occupied territories.
The contract also prohibited companies from restricting access of Israeli government and military agencies to cloud services, even if it violates the terms of service.
Google and Amazon deny any evasion of legal obligations.
The idea that we would evade our legal obligations to the US government as an American company or in any other country is categorically false.
The documents and contract description show that the agreement was part of Israel's strategic control over public sector and military data, including in view of the threat that foreign bodies could access it through judicial requests or subpoenas.