Microsoft would not be able to protect the information in the data center it wants to set up in Saudi Arabia. These are at least the conclusions of the NGO Human Rights Watch, which defends human rights. He called on the US company on Thursday to suspend its investments -announced in February- to build a data center in the country.
Saudi Arabia’s data protection policy would be too lax to risk sending data there. The NGO already plans to spy on people through the information that such a structure could contain.
Human rights risks
“The Saudi authorities have grossly violated the privacy rights of their own citizens by hacking into phones, infiltrating big tech companies and passing laws that give broad surveillance powers to government entities,” said Arvind Ganesan, director of Economic Justice and Rights. Human Rights Watch.
The head of the organization asks Microsoft not to turn a blind eye to these abuses. Thus, he asks the American giant to suspend its project “until the company can explain in a meaningful way how it will mitigate the risks in terms of human rights.”
These fears are motivated by the possibility that the government will force Microsoft to give it access to the contents of its data center. A 2007 cybercrime law punishes the creation, sharing and storage of any material that undermines public order, religious values, public morals or privacy.
Convictions linked to activity on Twitter
This text could force the American giant to provide user data to local authorities. But Human Rights Watch points to the lack of a clear framework related to these obligations. According to the NGO, Saudi Arabia could misuse this law.
Salma al-Shehab, a Leeds doctoral student and mother of two, was sentenced to 34 years in prison last year for running a Twitter account and following and retweeting dissidents and activists. Another woman, Noura al-Qahtani, was sentenced to 45 years in prison for using the same social network.
“Microsoft should put rights first and not become a tool for Saudi authorities to continue spying on people whose data is in Saudi Arabia,” Arvin Ganesan concluded.
Source: BFM TV
