[ad_1] Officials initially wanted to track the location of virtually every infected person with the technology, which was originally intended to fight terrorism. It theoretically helped Israel determine if people were isolating properly, and would help determine who might have been exposed. Privacy advocates quickly objected, though, and the Israeli parliament put a stop to […]
Category: surveillance
Banjo CEO resigns to preserve the company’s AI surveillance deals
[ad_1] Utah had put its surveillance contract with Banjo on hold after learning that Patton had been a KKK member as a teenager, and had joined a group leader in a drive-by shooting. Patton had renounced his past and vowed that it didn’t affect his company’s practices, but Utah paused its use of the technology […]
Utah pauses Banjo’s AI surveillance after learning of owner’s racist past
[ad_1] Utah is putting its AI surveillance system on ice after learning of its creator’s background. The state has suspended (via Salt Lake Tribune) Banjo’s contract after learning from a OneZero report that company head Damien was part of the Dixie Knights of the Ku Klux Klan as a teenager and joined the racist group’s […]
Israel barred from COVID-19 phone tracking without new legislation
[ad_1] While the phone tracking hasn’t been detailed in earnest, it’s believed to involve anti-terrorism tech from the Shin Bet domestic security agency. The tracking was used to enforce quarantines, flagging infected people who left home. The government isn’t happy with the decision. Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz claimed the technology made a “critical contribution” to […]
WhatsApp claims spyware firm launched attacks with US servers
[ad_1] Facebook just escalated its lawsuit over surveillance firm NSO Group’s WhatsApp call exploit attacks. The WhatsApp team has filed accusations that NSO relied on US-based servers to stage its spyware attacks using Pegasus software. NSO reportedly used the Los Angeles hosting service QuadraNet “more than 700 times” to infect users with malware, while an […]
Israel stops using phone tracking to enforce COVID-19 quarantines
[ad_1] Israel’s use of phone tracking technology to track COVID-19 patients has come to a partial end. A parliamentary oversight committee has halted use of the tracking to enforce quarantines after raising privacy concerns. The privacy violations outweigh the benefits, committee member Ayalet Shaked said — the phone monitoring tech doesn’t help much when police […]
Judge denies Twitter effort to reveal US surveillance requests
[ad_1] The 2014 lawsuit followed months of unsuccessful negotiations for greater transparency in the wake of Edward Snowden’s leaks revealing much about US surveillance activities, including online. Twitter, along with other internet giants, had argued that providing more details would help users understand government activity and protect freedom of expression. The government’s argument appears to […]
Microsoft pulls its smaller investments in facial recognition tech
[ad_1] There was no publicly available timeline for when Microsoft would offload its AnyVision stake, a spokesperson told Reuters. AnyVision had been accused of using facial recognition to surveil Palestinians around the West Bank, contradicting Microsoft’s promise to avoid any uses of the tech that impinged on democratic freedoms. However, an audit found no evidence […]
The surveillance profiteers of COVID-19 are here
[ad_1] These normally privacy-forward sources are saying this in response to the pandemic, obviously. But it’s also because companies that track, target, identify and surveil individuals are pitching their technologies to ID and trace the infected — in shady backroom discussions with the White House. The pandemic has us all in vulnerable positions, and some […]
Israel will use anti-terrorist tracking tech to fight coronavirus outbreak
[ad_1] The announcement is already raising concerns. Privacy expert Avner Pinchuk warned that this could include real-time phone tracking to alert authorities of quarantine violations, or tracing metadata to determine a COVID-19 patient’s travels and contacts. Shin Bet responded by saying it wouldn’t use its tech “in the context of isolation guidelines,” but that may […]