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Microsoft is reportedly banning Palestinians in the U.S. for life for calling relatives in Gaza (www.windowscentral.com)

submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

277 comments fedilink hide all child comments

A BBC investigation reveals that Microsoft is permanently banning Palestinians in the U.S. and other countries who use Skype to call relatives in Gaza.

Reportedly, Microsoft has been banning and wiping the accounts of users who have leveraged Skype to contact relatives in Gaza. In some cases, email accounts over a decade old have been locked, destroying access to banking accounts, OneDrive storage, and beyond.

United States resident Salah Elsadi lost his account of over 15 years in the dragnet. "I've had this Hotmail for 15 years. They banned me for no reason, saying I have violated their terms — what terms? Tell me. I've filled out about 50 forms and called them many many times." Eiad Hametto from Saudi Arabia echoed the report, "We are civilians with no political background who just wanted to check on our families. They’ve suspended my email account that I’ve had for nearly 20 years. It was connected to all my work. They killed my life online."

Many of the users affected by the bans expressed that Microsoft may be falsely labelling them as Hamas

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[–] [email protected] 316 points 4 months ago (3 children)

Remember: today it's "just" the Palestinians and you may not be affected or care. But tomorrow, it could be you.

[–] [email protected] 63 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Yep. If you ever shared a political opinion, that could put you on someone's naughty list. If that someone gets a position of power and decides they want to attack, well, you could be the next metaphorical Palestinian.

[–] [email protected] 40 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Voting on Lemmy isn't private (and is probably for sale on closed platforms) so just upvoting an opinion might be enough to get you on some lists.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Downvoted your comment just to be safe

Man, messed up innit. & how could it be made private without enabling a whole different set of bad actors (astroturfers, marketers, political axe grinders)

[–] [email protected] 14 points 4 months ago

I have always been pro-privacy, but in a kind of lukewarm, "I wish someone would do something about this" way.

What has finally pushed me to ditch services from large corporations over the past couple of years is not really a concern for privacy, its a drive for self-sufficiency.

As basically the last stepping stone, as of a couple of weeks ago, my email, calendar and contacts are self-hosted, and it's just... So freeing.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

—Martin Niemöller