Google and Amazon respond to allegations of an illegal 'secret code' with Israeli government

A recent report by The Guardian claimed Google and Amazon agreed to demands by the Israeli government in order to ink the Project Nimbus deal worth $1.2 billion, and one of those demands was allegedly a "secret code" the companies were required to use to inform the Israeli government when its data, stored on Google and Amazon services, was being handed over to foreign countries as part of court orders or investigations by local authorities.

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The Guardian report cited leaked documents about the Project Nimbus deal and claimed both Google and Amazon agreed to these terms with the Israeli government, and this secret code was called the "winking mechanism". For those who don't know, companies such as Google and Amazon are commonly requested to hand over data on individuals by authorities of various countries, and typically, the companies are gagged by local courts from informing the individual that their data is now with the authorities.

To get around this, The Guardian report claims leaked documents revealed a "winking mechanism" was devised by the Israeli government so Amazon and Google could inform it that its data, which was hosted on the company's servers, was now in the hands of authorities. The alleged code was in the form of payments to the Israeli government with a corresponding dialing code. For example, if US authorities asked Google or Amazon to hand over data, either company would send 1,000 shekels, as the US has a dialing code of +1.

• Read more: Amazon and Google's secret illegal 'winking' code with Israel exposed

The same principle allegedly applies to other nations' dialing codes, with another example being Italy and its +39 dialing code. If Italian authorities requested data, Google or Amazon would send a payment of 3,900 shekels to the Israeli government with the label "special compensation."

Google has since responded to these accusations within The Guardian report, stating to Android Authority the contents within the report are "false" and the implication that the company is involved in illegal activity, which would be the breaking of gag orders from local authorities, is "absurd." Furthermore, Google said the implication that it would avoid legal obligations is "categorically false".

"The accusations in this reporting are false, and imply that we somehow were involved in illegal activity, which is absurd. As is common in public sector agreements, an RFP does not reflect a final contract. The idea that we would evade our legal obligations to the US government as a US company, or in any other country, is categorically wrong. We've been very clear about the Nimbus contract, what it's directed to, and the Terms of Service and Acceptable Use Policy that govern it. Nothing has changed. This appears to be yet another attempt to falsely imply otherwise," wrote a Google spokesperson in a statement

Additionally, Amazon has also responded to claims, providing a statement to me in an email that, as a company, it reviews each non-disclosure obligation, and it maintains confidentiality in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. Furthermore, Amazon's statement denies that it has any processes in place to circumvent the confidentiality obligations it has on lawfully binding orders.

"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 Amazon spokesperson in a statement via email

At the time of publication, the Israeli Ministry of Finance hasn't responded to the allegations.