Revealed: Israel demanded Google and Amazon use secret ‘wink’ to sidestep legal orders

The GuardianWednesday, October 29, 2025 at 1:15:57 PM
Revealed: Israel demanded Google and Amazon use secret ‘wink’ to sidestep legal orders
Recent revelations show that Google and Amazon agreed to unusual terms while negotiating a $1.2 billion cloud-computing deal with the Israeli government in 2021. The Israeli government required the tech giants to use a secret code, referred to as the 'winking mechanism,' to bypass legal orders. This raises significant concerns about transparency and the ethical implications of such arrangements, highlighting the lengths companies may go to secure lucrative contracts.
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