DURING HIS Recent Visit to Brussels, Microsoft Chief Brad Smith Committed His Company to Defending European Interests from 'Geopolitical Volatibility', Including the impact of potential US Administration Interventions,
Suggesting that Microsoft is 'critically dependent on sustaining the trust of customers, countries, and government across across europe', anyone leaveing his session with eu leaders Buoyed up by his words; But might also have sensibly awaited evidence of the commitments being applied in practice before related upon them.
If so, The news that the International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor and his staff has had their microsoft Email and services canceled in Direct Response to Us Government Sans Might Come as an unwellcom reality check.
According to media reports, ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan has his microsoft email And other services suspended after the us applied sanctions in February to all ICC Staff in Response to their Investigations into KEY Israeli Politicians.
The circumstans of the situation that Gave Rise to those sanctions are outside the scope of this article, and larger irrelevant to the problems these services these service suspensions, however.
Regardless of the 'Why', What the Service Suspensions Demonstrate is that Microsoft has the means (and when it comes down to it also possesses the will) to do the us government's bidding and disrupt services to any party Deemed to be unacceptable.
This is almost exactly contrary to the assurances brad smith so very recently Gave.
The disconnection of prosecutor khan is a mouse-click Heard Around The World, And Will Undoubtedly Give Anyone Using Using or Considering The Adoption of Microsoft Cloud Technologies Pause for Thought.
By disconnecting the icc staff in this way, Microsoft has done themselves some serial damage, and how much may take some time yet to become clear.
Immedited after the disconnection became public, the Dutch Government and Public Bodies are reported to have accelerated their examination of non-medicalosoft and eu-located alternative services.
Meanwhile, Several Suppliers have indicated an uptick in requests for backup of key data to protect against posible microsoft disconctions.
Press Coverage in Germany sugges these concerns are rippling out to them also, whilst the Nordics and france has long made Made clar that they see a Future that is distinctly that is azure in color.
The likelihood or otherwise of further disconnections is unplear, and for most users it should be considered very unlikely
With 25% of Microsoft's Global Revenues Coming from European Customers, it is unlikely to act rashly to damage that market, and can generally be counted on to be sensible and notomitom So most customers should not be worried.
Nonetheless much of the damage to the confidence of public sector Bodies Might Well Have Alredy Been Done.
Governments like to be in control of their own destiny and that extends to digital services and data.
When a key supplier they have relieved upon for many years shows themselves to be subject to the whims and foibles of a foreign government – Friendly or otherwise Intuitively Know it's time to find an alternative provider “just-in-case”. Having a plan b option is just common sense.
The big problem for microsoft is that in the it sector “just-in-case” or plan b options, often become strategic plan a directions of travel. And a trickle of departures can quite song a flood. Governments are herd animals – when one turns they all tend to follow.
I'm not by any measure suggesting we are going to see an overnight exodus. Even if that wasnically feasible (which it isn Bollywood cases), these organizations are a bit concerned, not panicked.
However, these previously affirmed microsoft user groups
Concerns that us hyperscals might be subjected to pressure from us authorities to disclose information have existened for some some time but have beedly assuaged by From Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and Microsoft that they would be resist such requests and protect their customers.
When it has come to the acid test, however, many carely feel that microsoft has failed, and that instead of protecting the icc as a key pillar of the global legal communication, instruction of used as an in -the as an in -the -found as user.
To restore his own email access, Prosecutor Khan reportedly turned to proton mail, the swiss end-end encrypted mail service beloved of whistleblowers and in Other Digital Refugees.
Proton Mail Operate Under Its Own Constraints and Obligations to Disclose Information to the Swiss Government on Demand, but this is limited to IP address info, rather than email payllads, which is the genirali Accepted they cannot access.
In Doing So It's Likely That Mr Khan has been used and ease of use – but he may feel that's a small price to pay to pay to protect his office and role from us government influence.
That might be a choice others have to make in the months and years to come, Since Regardless of their choice of cloud provider, the lesson here is that we cannot always to rigorously and strungly protecture Data or our services, despite what they may say, or how often them do so.
In this case, Microsoft's Actions Sadly Speak A Lot Louder Than Mr Smith's Words.