Israel plans to mine secret cellphone data to track coronavirus

It is the existence of the metadata of mobile phones and its use to track patients and carriers of coronavirus which, according to privacy advocates, constitute the greatest test of Israeli democracy at any given time. extraordinarily fragile.

Malkiel Blass, who was deputy attorney general from 2004 to 2012, said that due to the dissolution of parliament in December, Mr. Netanyahus' cabinet had been operating without legislative oversight for too long.

Even in crises of this nature, the core of civil rights in a democracy must be preserved, said Mr. Blass in an interview. I understand that infection, contagion and spread of the virus should be avoided, but it is inconceivable that due to panic, civil rights are being violated without restraint, to levels totally disproportionate to the threat and the problem.

Anticipating such criticism, officials insisted that the use of cellphone data by the Homeland Security Agency known by its Hebrew acronym, Shin Bet would be scrupulously circumscribed.

The use of advanced Shin Bet technology is for one purpose only: to save lives, said a senior security official, who insisted on anonymity to discuss such a sensitive issue. . In this way, the spread of the virus in Israel can be reduced, quickly and effectively. This is a targeted, time-limited and limited activity that is monitored by the government, the Attorney General and the regulatory mechanisms of the Knessets.

The Shin Bet has been discreetly but regularly collecting metadata on mobile phones since at least 2002, officials have confirmed. It has never disclosed details about the information it collects, how this data is protected, if or when some of it is destroyed or deleted, who has access to it and under what conditions, or how they are used.

Two laws and several secret regulations and administrative orders govern the data collection effort and its use by the Shin Bet, officials said.

The Telecommunications Act, amended in 1995 with the advent of widespread cellular networks, gives the Prime Minister broad powers to order carriers to allow access to their facilities and databases if necessary to exercise the functions of the security forces or to exercise their powers.

Section 11 of the Israeli Security Agency Act, promulgated in 2002, allows the Prime Minister to determine what type of cellphone subscriber information is required by the service to reach its objective, and states that companies should transfer such information to the Shin Bet.

A former senior Shin Bet official who was involved in promoting the 2002 legislation said the agency had not pushed for article 11 because officials believed the lawmakers would never let pass such a draconian clause. But lawmakers didn't understand what it was all about and nobody said anything, added the former official, who insisted on anonymity to discuss the issues sensitive intelligence.

The former official added that after Edward Snowden, a former employee of the National Security Agency, released details of the mass collection of US government data on American citizens, igniting a Fury, we all laughed, that what the American intelligence community was trying to hide, and what caused such uproar among the American public, is so clearly written in Israeli law.

Under this law, it is the responsibility of the Shin Bet manager to determine how cellphone data is used. Although the law only allows its use for six months, the director of the Shin Bet can re-authorize it. The director is required to report to the Attorney General every three months and to the Knessets Secret Service Subcommittee every year.

Since 2002, said a former senior justice official, the prime ministers have demanded from mobile phone companies that they transfer a wide range of metadata about their subscribers to the agency. The official refused to say which categories of data were provided or retained, but the metadata includes the identity of each subscriber, the recipients or initiators of each call, the payments made to the account, as well as the geolocation information collected when phones communicate with cellular towers.

Use of mobile phone data to fight coronavirus requires government approval as security agency law limits role of Shin Bets in protecting Israel from threats of terror , sabotage, subversion, espionage and disclosure of state secrets. He is authorized to act in another manner vital to national security, but only with the approval of Cabinet and the Secret Service Subcommittee.

Ami Ayalon, head of the Shin Bets from 1995 to 2000 and a former lawmaker of the Labor party, described the clause authorizing the extension of the agency's mission as very problematic.

The question of whether it is justified is a dilemma that lies exactly in this crack between democracy and national security, said Ayalon.

Yet, he said, liberal democracy is violated by all kinds of battles.

Contrary to some Israeli reports, there are no plans to hack into the mobile phones of Israeli citizens. But experts said it just wasn't necessary because the government is, of course, already receiving enough data from mobile operators to monitor where almost everyone is.

Lior Akerman, a former Shin Bet officer, said the agency was well trained in distinguishing appropriate targets from those suspected of threatening national security and innocent civilians.

In this case, said Mr Akerman, it is not a case of tracking down innocent people or invading their privacy, but of using existing technology to identify and locate sick people and carriers who could infect thousands of people.

But Tehilla Shwartz Altshuler, a senior researcher at the Institute for Israeli Democracy, argued that the deployment of the Shin Bet, which already has the necessary data, was easy but dangerous.

The problem is that its slope is very slippery, she said, arguing that it would be safer to turn the police over to the police.

I don't want to sound like a dissident, but if your privacy is important to you, you should worry, said Ms. Altshuler, adding: This is not a war or an intifada. It is a civil event and should be treated as such.