Microsoft Disconnects Online Communications for Palestinians

Palestinians living abroad are reporting that Microsoft has abruptly closed their email accounts—like Microsoft owned email service Hotmail—without warning or verifiable reasons, leaving them cut off from other essential online services.

The sudden account closures mean that many Palestinians living in the US find themselves unable to access bank accounts, respond to job offers, or use Skype to communicate with family members in Gaza, where the ongoing conflict with Israel has made communication impossible.

Eiad Hametto, a Palestinian residing in Saudi Arabia, shared his experience with the BBC: "They killed my life online. They've suspended my email account that I've had for nearly 20 years - It was connected to all my work." Hametto noted the critical role Skype has played in maintaining contact with relatives in Gaza, where internet access is frequently disrupted due to the active Israeli military campaign.

But this isn’t just happening to Palestinians outside of the US. Salah Elsadi—a Palestinian currently residing in the United States—found himself abruptly locked out of his Microsoft Hotmail account, which he has had for 15 years without issue. The suspension also extended to all services linked to this account.

Expressing his frustration, Elsadi stated, "They banned me for no reason, saying I have violated their terms - what terms? Tell me." He described his persistent efforts to resolve the situation with Microsoft customer support, noting that he had "filled out about 50 forms and called them many, many times," all to no avail.

When approached for comment by the BBC, Microsoft did not directly address whether suspected ties to Hamas were behind the account closures. A clever company spokesperson claimed that they do not block calls or ban users based on calling region or destination. Instead, they noted that "Blocking in Skype can occur in response to suspected fraudulent activity," without providing any further details.

Right. This is what happens when there is no accountability for megacorps who can ban and cut you off from services without any verifiable reason.

The affected Palestinians argue that the blanket totalitarian bans from Microsoft have violated their legal terms of service - a claim the company actively disputes. But this story also brings signals a broader question: is Microsoft actively using their power to ban users from communication services like Skype and Hotmail to cover up first-person information in the Israel-Palestine conflict?

The Harsh Light of Prism

Skype was not always a communication service that happily leaked your private data to Microsoft. In fact, in 2011, there were no known privacy breaches and very few bugs until Microsoft purchased the company for a clean 8.5 billion.

But in the summer of 2013, everyone understood the effects of corporate takeover of telecommunication services. It was in this fateful year that Edward Snowden, a former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor, leaked classified documents that exposed a clandestine NSA surveillance program known as PRISM.

PRISM, operational since 2007, allowed the NSA unprecedented access to vast swaths of internet communications. Under the authority of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), the program tapped into the servers of major tech giants, including Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and Apple.

Despite outright lies and denials from the digital-intelligence complex about providing direct server access, the scope of data collection was staggering as it was all encompassing. It included emails, chat logs, voice calls, and social networking details. All of the above corporations gleefully handed over private data to the NSA without any legal consequence.

The PRISM program had direct connections with both Skype and Microsoft. In a now declassified document, A User’s Guide for PRISM Skype Collection, it is revealed that users were actively considered “targets” and everything from IP location to private messaging was completed monitored in real time in joint effort by both Microsoft and the NSA.

Why are we bringing up the now ancient news of 2013 in 2024? Because the full impact and current status of PRISM still remains shrouded in secrecy. The classified nature of these programs means that, as of now, many questions about PRISM and its potential successor operations remain completely unanswered.

As long as corporations remain unaccountable for corrupt, illegal actions we will continue to keep reminding our readers of information now seemingly lost to the sands of time.

Solutions

Skype is proprietary closed source software. Here at TBOT if the code can’t be inspected publicly, we don’t bother using it.

Unlike open source projects, close sourced software and mainstream telecomm services have a long, verified history of leaks, hacks, and generally compromising your private data to brokers who sell it out to the highest bidder.

Instead of using Skype or Zoom, we recommend checking out open source, encrypted decentralized communication platforms like Jitsi Meet. You can use Jitsi from your web browser, without an account with ease. If you do want to create an account you can also use Github in order to customize meeting parameters.

We are also more than happy to mention Above Video Conferencing, which is available on Above Phone. Rest easy knowing your messages have end to end encryption and evade the prying eyes of criminals, data brokers and corrupt politicians.

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