- Activists say tech companies could be complicit in Saudi surveillance and repression.
- Companies such as Microsoft and Google have set up cloud storage centers in the kingdom.
- But Saudi Arabia has weak privacy laws and a track record of persecuting dissidents.
A lavish conference in Riyadh in February brought together representatives of some of the world’s biggest tech companies.
The event was part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s “Vision 2030” plan to transform Saudi Arabia, best known for its oil reserves and ultra-conservative interpretation of Islam, into a hub of technology and innovation.
Technology executives lined shoulders with Saudi officials and Neom planners. Neom is at the heart of the crown prince’s vision for a trillion-dollar future data operations megacity under construction in northwestern Saudi Arabia.
Shortly after, Saudi officials announced they had secured $9 billion in investment, including $2 billion in plans, from both companies. From computer and technology giant Microsoft Build a cloud storage facility in your kingdom.
Following a similar announcement from Google announced last year that it would establish a cloud center in the kingdom.
Saudi Arabia’s unclear security laws
But as tech companies scramble to win lucrative Saudi contracts, rights activists warn that Saudi authorities could use the vast amount of digital information stored in the kingdom to intensify their brutal persecution of dissidents.
They warn tech giants such as Microsoft and Google that they could be forced to turn over civilian data to Saudi killers.
Human Rights Watch warned in a May report: Under Saudi law, security agencies have broad powers to access data and can coerce companies into handing over personal information deemed to violate broad and vaguely defined national security laws.
The world’s largest tech companies, Google and Microsoft, have refused to disclose how they protect the privacy of data hosted in Saudi Arabia, according to the newspaper.
Data handed over to a silver platter
Marwa Fatahta, an analyst at digital rights group Access Now, said Saudi Arabia had a “disastrous” human rights record.
“There are serious concerns around data protection, privacy and surveillance,” she said. “Is that true?” [Google and Microsoft] Have you investigated how you plan to mitigate potential human rights and privacy violations and how to build such infrastructure?”
“Google’s cloud center, which is under Saudi jurisdiction, will basically provide our sensitive data on a silver platter to the top Saudi killers,” said Rewan Al-Hadad, campaign director for the shareholder group S,umOfUs. new york post last year.
A screen is monitored by Saudi security personnel tracking the 2012 Hajj.
Faiz Nurelddin/AFP via Getty Images
In recent years, it has been reported that Saudi authorities have brutally pursued government critics on social media, used spyware to track defected dissidents, and even hacked into Twitter headquarters to steal data.
Saudi authorities recently sentenced a woman, Fatima Al-Shawarbi, to 30 years in prison for her Twitter criticism of the Neom megacity project. 2020, University of Leeds students, salma al shehabwas sentenced to 30 years in prison for criticizing the crown prince on a social media platform.
Saudi Arabia ‘can do what it wants’
Professor Alan Woodward, a computer technology expert at the University of Surrey, said Saudi authorities could have access to vast amounts of classified political information stored via the cloud.
“The government can basically do whatever it wants,” he said. “And if you can imagine anything published online, it can be very edgy and can be used against dissidents.”
He said countries such as Saudi Arabia have told companies, “If you want to do business in this country, you have to keep your data in this country. And there’s a very obvious reason for that, because they potentially have access to the data.”
Microsoft told Insider that it remains committed to human rights, but did not provide specific details on how it will protect data privacy while operating in countries that do not recognize human rights.
“Respect for human rights is a core Microsoft value. Our investments in the region are consistent with Microsoft’s commitment to protecting fundamental rights and include a focus on responsible cloud practices, including security, privacy, compliance and transparency, and adherence to Microsoft values and principles,” a Microsoft spokesperson told Insider.
“As the world situation continues to evolve, we are committed to working with human rights organizations and the broader technology industry to uphold human rights in all the countries where we operate,” a Google spokesperson told an insider, referring to a statement on the company’s website.
James Lynch, a researcher at the human rights group Fairsquare, has challenged Microsoft and Google to release human rights “due diligence” reports aimed at assessing how they can ethically operate in countries with poor human rights practices.
But he said the companies had refused to release the report and asked them to “clearly demonstrate how they intend to mitigate risks such as Saudi authorities seeking access to data.”
Surveillance City Neom
Of particular concern to human rights activists is the sprawling city of Neom, which Prince Mohammed has commissioned to build in the northeastern part of the kingdom. Saudi sovereign wealth funds are spending $1 trillion to build the city, whose services, from transportation to air conditioning, will be powered by user data accessed through smartphones.
Insiders reported in March that they feared the data could be used by Saudi authorities to track and monitor residents in real time in a massive surveillance system.
James urged Western companies planning to be involved in building the city’s digital infrastructure to address this concern.
“It’s absolutely terrifying to tie together almost all the data about how people live and use that as the city’s organizing principle,” Lynch said. At best, the country has opaque privacy laws and broad powers to suppress dissent.
A futuristic city in the Saudi Arabian desert hopes to hold nine million people.
Neom
Neither Google nor Microsoft has disclosed whether they were involved in building Neom’s digital infrastructure.
But alongside the concerns, there is also the question that Saudi Arabia risks jeopardizing the investments it has invested so much in in the future by using data stored in Saudi Arabia.
Analysts told insiders that Prince Mohammed has long sought a performance that would open up the kingdom to innovation and pose as a reformer while maintaining authoritarian powers to quell opposition.
“I would take Neom’s involvement positively. Perhaps it would be something like looking at this with a glass half full of water and saying, ‘Well, this is probably purely part of the kingdom’s attempt to diversify, and therefore to put more technological infrastructure in the country,'” Woodward said.