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Amazon, Microsoft, Google to end NDAs with local governments on data centers
After an investigation revealed that nondisclosure agreements with Georgia governments hid details of massive data center projects, Amazon, Microsoft and Google have pledged to end or phase out the practice. The move comes as Georgia's data center industry continues to expand rapidly, with 331 facilities planned, under construction or operating.
ATLANTA â Three of the nation's largest technology companies have announced they will end or phase out the use of nondisclosure agreements with local governments for data center projects, following reporting that revealed how such agreements kept the public in the dark about the deals.
Amazon, Microsoft and Google each made the commitment in separate blog posts this week. The announcements came after an investigation obtained agreements between data center companies and Georgia governments that contained extensive redactions, including one development agreement with the Douglasville-Douglas County Water and Sewer Authority in which even the name of the company involved was blacked out. Other records included a nondisclosure agreement involving Microsoft, and a Google agreement with the same water authority contained page after page of redactions, including information about specific water usage and requirements.
"People all over Georgia and all across the country really have been demanding more transparency," said April Lipscomb, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center. "They are being used to protect information that the public has a right to know."
In its blog post, Amazon wrote, "We no longer use nondisclosure agreements with the government agencies we work with on our projects." Google said it will "eliminate the use of NDAs with state and local governments." Microsoft described the move as "the next step in our work to deliver greater transparency" and told Channel 2 Action News in a statement that after announcing the change, "we then started working through the process of terminating any active NDAs we had in place with local governments. This includes municipal utilities."
The transparency concerns have grown as enormous hyperscale data centers continue to expand across Georgia. Some facilities are so large that Channel 2 Action News used NewsChopper 2 to show their full scale from the air. An analysis of new numbers from Data Center Map found that 331 data centers are planned, under construction or already operating in Georgia.
Lipscomb said the companies' commitments are a response to public pressure and warned that secrecy will no longer be tolerated. "They can't keep repeating the same efforts to maintain the secrecy because they're going to get pushback and their projects are going to get denied," she said.
The announcements mark a significant shift for the tech giants, which have faced mounting criticism over their lack of transparency as data centers â which consume large amounts of water and electricity â proliferate in communities across the state.