Amazon and Google's secret illegal 'winking' code with Israel exposed

A new report has claimed Amazon and Google agreed to use a secret code with the Israeli government called the "winking mechanism" when obfuscating legal obligations in countries around the world.

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The Guardian has cited leaked documents between Google, Amazon, and the Israeli government that were part of the $1.2 billion cloud-computing deal in 2021, with the publication writing that Israel was concerned that, as the companies moved data through global corporate cloud networks, the data could end up in the hands of foreign authorities.

Global corporations controlling the routing of data and the storage regularly comply with laws that compel the holders of the data to hand over information regarding specific persons of interest, and typically, the companies are gagged by authorities to prevent them from informing the individual that their data has been handed over to authorities. However, according to The Guardian report, Israel demanded a workaround for this, and it involved the creation of a secret warning system.

• Read more: Google and Amazon respond to allegations of an illegal 'secret code' with Israeli government

The warning system consisted of sending hidden payments to the Israeli government, acting as a tip-off that Israeli data had been handed over to foreign authorities or investigators. This "winking mechanism" was one of many unorthodox "controls" Google and Amazon reportedly had to agree to in order to close the 2021 deal named Project Nimbus. One of those "controls" was that Google and Amazon weren't able to suspend Israel's service to its products even if it was found to be in violation of the terms of service.

The report states the Israeli government had the aforementioned stipulation and others in place to counter Google and Amazon revoking access to its technology over shareholder pressure, particularly if Google and Amazon were linked to human rights abusers.

How the Code Worked

According to the report, Google and Amazon agreed to informing the Israeli government through coded monetary transactions that were representative of the country either company was required to hand over Israeli data to, and whether they were gagged from informing them. The secret code was in the form of payments labelled "special compensation" and was paid by the companies to the Israeli government.

The Guardian writes that documents seen by the publication revealed these coded payment messages were to be made "within 24 hours of the information being transferred," and the total corresponded to the dialing code of the country they were handing over the data to. Here's how it worked.

Payments were between 1,000 and 9,999 shekels, and, for example, if Google or Amazon were required to hand over Israeli data to the US, and the companies were gagged by authorities from informing the Israeli government, they would send 1,000 shekels, as the US has a dialing code of +1. If they had to hand over data to Italian authorities, where the dialing code is +39, they would send 3,900 shekels. In the event the gag order prevented the companies from even informing which country requested the data, they would send 100,000 shekels.

"We have a rigorous global process for responding to lawful and binding orders for requests related to customer data. AWS carefully reviews each request to assess any non-disclosure obligations, and we maintain confidentiality in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. While AWS does not disclose customer information in response to government demands unless we're absolutely required to do so, we recognize the legitimate needs of law enforcement agencies to investigate serious crimes. We do not have any processes in place to circumvent our confidentiality obligations on lawfully binding orders," wrote an AWS spokesperson in a statement via email