Mastodawn

When Microsoft locked an ICC prosecutor out of their email, it proved just how easily U.S. power can reach across borders and into the heart of global justice, writes Paul Budde.

THE RECENT INCIDENT involving Microsoft and the International Criminal Court (ICC) should send a chill down the spine of every democratic nation.
Following a sanctions order from White House, Microsoft locked ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan out of his enterprise-level Office 365 account.
That account wasn’t personal — it was part of the ICC’s institutional infrastructure.

And just like that, an American tech giant disabled access to a key international legal actor.

...

What’s worse is the normalisation of it all. We scroll past headlines like “Microsoft cuts #ICC access” and carry on with our day. The sociologist Alexei Yurchak coined a term for this: hypernormalisation — the idea that everyone knows the system is broken, but we all pretend things are normal because no one can imagine how to change them..."

#Tyranny #Kakistocracy #ManufacturingConsent #Office365 #Censorship

https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/trumps-war-on-the-icc-goes-digital-with-microsoft-as-an-ally,19894

Trump's war on the ICC goes digital with Microsoft as an ally

When Microsoft locked an ICC prosecutor out of their email, it proved just how easily U.S. power can reach across borders and into the heart of global justice.

Independent Australia

eMarginalia Jul 2

@MMRnmd Just goes to show, folks outside the us shouldn't have us accounts. Especially important folks! Linux and LibreOffice and Proton Mail (and others) to the fore.

toybox [fr]Jul 3

@demerara @MMRnmd Doesn't Proton support the fucking republicans?

eMarginalia Jul 3

@toybox @MMRnmd
Evidence for this?

toybox [fr]Jul 3

@demerara @MMRnmd Apparently this https://theintercept.com/2025/01/28/proton-mail-andy-yen-trump-republicans/
and here
https://bsky.app/profile/mav.wtf/post/3lfqtwxntzk2s
Also they like to hand over their users' data to cops
https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/13/infosec_in_brief/
https://hachyderm.io/@BenjaminHCCarr/112518754695249148

Proton Mail Says It’s “Politically Neutral” While Praising Republican Party

The “privacy-first” company surprised its user base when CEO Andy Yen lauded Trump on social media.

The Intercept

eMarginalia Jul 3

@toybox @MMRnmd
Bummer. So is there a better one? Who will stay better? Beginning to seem that any big tech is just a crap heap.

toybox [fr]Jul 3

@demerara @MMRnmd It's so exhausting 😑

Peter Brown Jul 2

@MMRnmd maybe time to revisit this system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meshtastic

needs rolled out worldwide to bypass US billionaire control

Meshtastic - Wikipedia

DoomsdaysCW Jul 2

@MMRnmd #Fascism #TechnoFascism #TechnoFascists

Rowan Brad Quni Jul 2

@MMRnmd That was really dumb because I'd guess the account/data are in the #EU per #GDPR, not within #US jurisdiction + I'm quite certain that the European Union will be saying goodbye to #Microsoft at an accelerated rate now.

@QNFO And suing to a *massive* d̶o̶l̶l̶a̶r̶ Euro amount, I should hope. @MMRnmd

Rowan Brad Quni Jul 2

@ZenHeathen @MMRnmd unlike in the US, European data regulations actually have teeth!

GoodNewsGreyShoes🔞Jul 2

@MMRnmd Flippin' hell - that is some BULLSHIT👀

@MMRnmd should send a chill down the spine of every Microsoft user and hopefully help them reevaluate and make better choices. #Linux #Thunderbird #LibreOffice #tutamail #onlyoffice #MullvadVPN

⚛️ Yours Truly! Unruly 🇨🇦🇪🇺🇺🇦🌻Jul 3

Imagining the way forward is not pretty.

@MMRnmd "THE RECENT INCIDENT involving Microsoft...should send a chill..."

Well, only if you have been living under a rock since 1983. Some of us have been foreseeing this, been writing about this, and have been taken action since the early eighties. Most every year there is such an incident.

And it has very little if anything to do with Microsoft or with the US. If you're running proprietary software, you are being controlled and all bets are off.

The only way to be in control of your computing is to use free software. And as an aside: using free software from the US is fine.

#freeSoftware
@rms
@fsf

Stéphane Bortzmeyer Jul 3

@janneke @MMRnmd @rms @fsf I basically agree, of course, but in the original case (the ICC prosecutor losing his account), it was about a service, not a program. Some people do not want to self-host, they want to live in the castle of a powerful overlord. In that case, the freeness of the software no longer matters.

Marsh Ray Jul 3

@bortzmeyer @janneke @MMRnmd @rms @fsf Even if you self-host everything, the US can (in many countries) seize your DNS domain name or pressure your ISP or power utility, etc. to disconnect you.

With a major cloud provider, you *may* just have a slim chance to get their legal team as an ally in, as they well understand that it threatens their entire business model. But in today’s political climate, where autocrats threaten businesses by name, that’s looking less likely.

contrapunctus ✊🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️Jul 4

@bortzmeyer @janneke admittedly didn’t mention it, but the software freedom movement certainly has been warning about it. c.f.

On the Internet, proprietary software isn’t the only way to lose your computing freedom. Service as a Software Substitute, or SaaSS, is another way to give someone else power over your computing.

https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/who-does-that-server-really-serve.html

@MMRnmd @rms @fsf

Who Does That Server Really Serve? - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation

Are you sure?

https://www.politico.eu/article/microsoft-did-not-cut-services-international-criminal-court-president-american-sanctions-trump-tech-icc-amazon-google/

Microsoft didn’t cut services to International Criminal Court, its president says

Chief prosecutor’s email issues have spurred fears in Europe that Trump could trigger a “kill switch” through U.S. tech giants abroad.

POLITICO