Data Centers Are Military Targets Now
(theintercept.com)
geneva_convenience
TechnologyIn retaliation for the ongoing U.S.–Israeli war, Iran responded with a novel form of counterattack. For the first time in military history, private sector data centers came under deliberate attack.
In an era when companies known for e-commerce, social networks, and search engines have also become close collaborators with militaries, is bombing their servers fair game?
Three days after the U.S. and Israel began their joint bombardment, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched kamikaze drone strikes against Amazon-owned data centers in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain that provide an array of cloud computing services to customers throughout the Middle East. The impacts and subsequent fires “caused structural damage, disrupted power delivery to our infrastructure, and in some cases required fire suppression activities that resulted in additional water damage,” according to Amazon, resulting in service outages across the region.
The motive behind the attack, according to Iranian state television, was not to block people from ordering groceries or posting to social media, but rather to highlight “the role of these centers in supporting the enemy’s military and intelligence activities.
It certainly makes sense. AWS hosts infrastructure specifically for the US FedGov. That infrastructure includes systems for the US DoD. So, that makes it a valid military target. And while cyber attacks can do a lot to degrade command and control, nothing DoS's a server farm like a few hundred kilos of high explosives.
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have also become close collaborators with militaries, is bombing their servers fair game?
Of course it is.
Companies that have their AI being used for war are valid military targets, no doubt about that.
If you’re going to use AI in a military capacity, I’d say the infrastructure to support it becomes a perfectly valid target.
This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone, and certainly not anyone in an executive or military role.
Get rid of the Bezos servers, Iran. 🫡
Soon They will be domestic targets too. I guarantee it
Civilians and their property have been targets in war for centuries if not millennia. This is nothing new, and it's absolutely a valid way to end a war against a nation that is even marginally democratic.
If the people electing the leaders don't support the war, then, in theory, the war will end.
It worked for Vietnam. There was finally enough pushback from the people that not only did the US pull it's troops, but there was an anti war sentiment across the entire nation for at least a decade beyond it.
This is why there's so much propaganda against our "enemies" these days, to ensure that the people keep seeing them as enemies and not as people.
Targeting civilians can get them to support the war a lot more because fuck that guy bombing us.
Targeting corporate assets, especially if the people generally dislike the corporations? That is far more interesting. I don't know if there are many good examples of that. I suspect you may see an increasing hatred towards government and corporations from the people while corporations will lobby governments to do more to defend their things.
On the one hand. Though luck i can't really give enough f about Amazon to care. On the other hand if it will become more common prices of ram will go even higher. Ehhh
