Big Tech's bind with military and intelligence agencies

"In their gold rush to build cloud and AI tools, Big Tech is also enabling unprecedented government surveillance. Thanks to reporting from The Guardian, +972 Magazine, Local Call, and The Intercept, we have insights into the murky deals between the Israeli Government and Big Tech firms. Designed to insulate governments from scrutiny and accountability, these deals bode a dark future for humanity, one that is built using the same tools that once promised a bright, positive world."

"On 25 September 2025, Microsoft announced the cessation of some of its deal with the Israeli Government. While this is a positive development, it also exemplifies the looming dangers of Big Tech working with governments. Even as Microsoft partially acted, the Israeli Government apparently moved the data to Amazon. Meanwhile Google still has a multi-billion dollar deal with Israel, under the Google & Amazon supported Project Nimbus."

"As government power is increasingly enhanced with cloud processing, transparency and accountability must also follow. We warned about this back in 2021 when we learned the UK government's spy agencies began contracting with Amazon. These public-private surveillance partnerships, often secret, are hazardous to the protection of rights, granting both governments and companies access to immense power while being shielded from accountability."

Big Tech's rapid construction of cloud infrastructure and AI tools is enabling unprecedented government surveillance and diminishing scrutiny and accountability. Microsoft partially ceased parts of its deal with the Israeli government on 25 September 2025, while Israeli authorities reportedly moved data to Amazon and Google maintains a multi-billion dollar Project Nimbus contract. Public-private surveillance partnerships are often secret and hazardous to rights, granting states and companies immense power while shielding them from oversight. Intelligence agencies increasingly rely on commercial cloud providers, beginning with the CIA's 2013 contract; contracts expanded by 2020 to include Microsoft, Google, Oracle, and IBM.

Read at Privacy International