Technology

37689 readers

258 users here now

A nice place to discuss rumors, happenings, innovations, and challenges in the technology sphere. We also welcome discussions on the intersections of technology and society. If it’s technological news or discussion of technology, it probably belongs here.

Remember the overriding ethos on Beehaw: Be(e) Nice. Each user you encounter here is a person, and should be treated with kindness (even if they’re wrong, or use a Linux distro you don’t like). Personal attacks will not be tolerated.

Subcommunities on Beehaw:

This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

Palestinians living abroad have accused Microsoft of closing their email accounts without warning - cutting them off from crucial online services (www.bbc.com)

submitted 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

18 comments fedilink hide all child comments

They say it has left them unable to access bank accounts and job offers - and stopped them using Skype, which Microsoft owns, to contact relatives in war-torn Gaza.

Microsoft says they violated its terms of service - a claim they dispute.

"They killed my life online," said Eiad Hametto, who lives in Saudi Arabia.

"They’ve suspended my email account that I’ve had for nearly 20 years - It was connected to all my work," he told the BBC.

He also said being cut off from Skype was a huge blow for his family.

The internet is frequently disrupted or switched off there because of the Israeli military campaign - and standard international calls are very expensive.

Israel launched its offensive in Gaza in response to the Hamas attack on 7 October, which killed about 1,200 people. The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says more than 38,000 people have been killed in the war.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago

I'm not seeing a lot of factual reporting here. Just the BBC quoting three people who got banned by Microsoft, copy pasted by a dozen news websites. The potential Hamas connection cited everywhere is something the banned people came up with, not something Skype ever mentioned. There's a strong post hoc ergo hoc argument going on here.

This stood out to me:

… standard international calls are very expensive…

With a paid Skype subscription, it is possible to call mobiles in Gaza cheaply - and while the internet is down -…

Now, it is possible that Microsoft has their own specific Palestinian phone system set up with generators and satellite backlinks to provide cheap local connectivity, but I suspect they didn't bother with any of that. Instead, I expect that they're paying the same price as any other carrier, but footing the bill. Their listed rates online are less than the rates of those low-quality, super cheap VoIP providers, by more than half when it comes to calling cell phones.

Microsoft cites suspected fraud as a reasons for the account blocks. My guess is that the fraud detection algorithm sees these accounts that discovered the Skype workaround, which suddenly incur a lot of VoIP cost over a small period of time while the lines are overcrowded, and applies the default "ban accounts when suspicious stuff happens" procedure.

This isn't the first time Microsoft has been caught banning people and refusing to explain why. In some cases, they've even ignored court orders to return data and provide an explanation. Twenty people in two months time is nothing for how many people get banned by MS for no reason at all.

Microsoft certainly isn't a neutral party, especially with how much money they can make by being friendly with Israel despite their invasion, but I don't see much evidence that this is them targeting Palestinians specifically.