Google abandons the $ 10 billion battle for the Pentagon data contract

Google has abandoned its efforts to win a $ 10 billion cloud computing contract with the Pentagon.

The firm said the work could have violated the principles published in June limiting its activities related to artificial intelligence.

Thousands of his staff had already protested against his participation in a separate project of the Ministry of Defense.

The tech company revealed the latest decision a few hours after confirming having exposed the personal data of Google+ users.

Cloud shock

The Pentagon contract was for a project named after the Star Wars movies – the Joint Enterprise Infrastructure Infrastructure (Jedi) cloud.

The offers had to be submitted on Friday.

The signing of this contract, which represents about a decade of work, could have helped Google to catch up with Amazon and Microsoft, the two market leaders in selling cloud services to governments and businesses.

According to Reuters, Amazon Web Services is the favorite to win.

A Google spokeswoman said: "While we are working to help the US government use our cloud in many areas, we are not bidding for the Jedi contract because, first, we could not be assured that it would be good for us. it would align with our AI principles, and then we determined that certain parts of the contract were out of reach with our current government certifications. "

This refers to the fact that Google is currently authorized to handle only "moderate" US government security-enabled data, but not more sensitive ones.

Pip Google+

Earlier Monday, the search firm announced the closure of Google+ to consumers following the discovery of a bug in March.

This flaw could have allowed unauthorized third parties to delete the confidential data of 500,000 members on the social network.

Google has stated that it has found no evidence of actual exploitation of the fault and that it was unable to specify which users had been affected.

However, the Wall Street Journal reported that the general manager of the company, Sundar Pichai, had been informed of the matter seven months ago and that the company had no intention of making the "business", fearing that this might be subject to regulatory review. "

Google has not responded to this request.

The timing of the bug discovery coincided with Cambridge Analytica's data breach scandal on Facebook, which some believe might have prompted Google to audit.

The European Data Privacy Supervisory Bodies are now looking into this matter.

As this happened before the entry into force of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the competent authorities of each country may use Google individually.

The Irish Data Protection Commission said in a statement that she was unaware of the problem and that she would be seeking Google's answers regarding the nature, impact and impact of the data. the risks for people.

Pixel phone event

The last two developments are on the eve of a consumer-driven Google event.

The company is expected to unveil new handsets and kits in New York at 11:00 am ET (4:00 pm BST).

Mr. Pichai has presented the launches of the previous two generations of Pixel smartphones, but the BBC understands that he will not do it this year.

A source told the BBC that it had never been scheduled to attend the meeting and that Rick Osterloh, Google's material manager, would instead take charge of the proceedings.

Mr. Pichai was previously "empty president" when he refused to attend a privacy hearing held by the US Senate Intelligence Committee in September.

He then met with politicians and officials in Washington behind closed doors.