British media recently reported that British intelligence agencies, including MI5 and VI, have signed a contract with the American Internet company Amazon to host confidential materials, with the purpose of increasing the use of data analysis and artificial intelligence in intelligence activities. The Financial Times quoted people familiar with the matter as reporting on October 26 that the British intelligence agency MI5, MI6 and Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) have signed a contract with Amazon Web Services (AWS), a cloud computing platform created by Amazon. contract.
The British Government Communications Headquarters supports the procurement of Amazon’s high-security cloud system for use by its sister institutions MI5 and MI6. It is reported that the British Ministry of Defense and other government departments will also use the system in joint operations.
The British “Guardian” pointed out that the contract with Amazon may raise concerns about sovereignty issues, because the most confidential intelligence data in the UK will be hosted by a US technology company.
The British Government Communications Headquarters told the media that it would not comment on reports about its relationship with technology suppliers. Amazon also declined to comment on this matter.
Gus Hussein, executive director of the UK-based non-profit organization “Privacy International”, told the Financial Times that the British Parliament, regulators and the public need to know more details about the transaction.
“This is a worrying public-private partnership. They secretly reached an agreement.” Hussein said, “This contract continues and Amazon will be positioned as the cloud service provider of choice for global intelligence agencies. Amazon must Answer, which countries it is prepared to work for.”
