Global InformationProject Nimbus information
Project Nimbus (Hebrew: פרויקט נימבוס) is a cloud computing project of the Israeli government and its military.[1][2][3][4] The Israeli Finance Ministry announced April 2021, that the contract is to provide "the government, the defense establishment, and others with an all-encompassing cloud solution."[1] Under the contract, the companies will establish local cloud sites that will "keep information within Israel's borders under strict security guidelines."[4] According to a Google spokesperson, the contract is for workloads related to "finance, healthcare, transportation, and education" and does not deal with highly sensitive or classified information.[5]
Although Project Nimbus' specific mission has not yet been revealed, Google Cloud Platform's AI tools could give the Israeli military and security services the capability for facial detection, automated image categorization, object tracking & sentiment analysis — tools that have previously been used by U.S. Customs and Border Protection for border surveillance.[1]
Project Nimbus has four planned phases: the first is purchasing and constructing the cloud infrastructure, the second is crafting government policy for moving operations onto the cloud, the third is moving operations to the cloud, and the fourth is implementing and optimizing cloud operations.[6] Under a $1.2 billion contract, technology companies Google (Google Cloud Platform) and Amazon (Amazon Web Services) were selected to provide Israeli government agencies with cloud computing services, including artificial intelligence and machine learning.[7][1]
The terms Israel set for the project contractually forbid Amazon and Google from halting services due to boycott pressure.[8][9] The tech companies are also forbidden from denying service to any particular government entities.[9] A Google spokesperson said that all Google Cloud customers must abide by its terms of service which prohibit customers from using its services to violate people's legal rights or engage in violence.[5]
- ^ a b c d Biddle, Sam (July 24, 2022). "Documents Reveal Advanced AI Tools Google Is Selling to Israel". The Intercept. Retrieved August 30, 2022.
- ^ Ziv, Amitai. "Israel Picks Google, Amazon for Massive Official Cloud; 'Data Will Remain Here'". Haaretz. Retrieved September 7, 2022.
- ^ Ziv, Amitai. "Microsoft to Launch Much Awaited Cloud Server Farm in Israel in 2021". Haaretz. Retrieved September 7, 2022.
- ^ a b Scheer, Steven (April 21, 2021). "Israel picks Amazon's AWS, Google for flagship cloud project". Reuters. Retrieved August 31, 2022.
- ^ a b Perrigo, Billy (April 8, 2024). "Exclusive: Google Workers Revolt Over $1.2 Billion Israel Contract". TIME. Retrieved April 19, 2024.
- ^ Stub, Zev (May 25, 2021). "Amazon, Google to employ thousands in Israel for massive Nimbus project". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved August 31, 2022.
- ^ Grant, Nico (August 30, 2022). "Google Employee Who Played Key Role in Protest of Contract With Israel Quits". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 30, 2022.
- ^ Chua, Charmaine; Alimahomed-Wilson, Jake; Potiker, Spencer Louis (June 22, 2021). "Amazon's Investments in Israel Reveal Complicity in Settlements and Military Operations". ISSN 0027-8378. Retrieved August 30, 2022.
- ^ a b Swinhoe, Dan. "Israel Government says AWS and Google can't boycott Nimbus Project". www.datacenterdynamics.com. Retrieved August 30, 2022.