The right to privacy or the need to save lives?
Experts believe that creating a database of civilian movement poses a security threat to the country • "Outdated location technology"
Corona tests in Elad
Photo:
Jonathan Saul
A special panel on GSS law and information-gathering technologies in the Corona era was held yesterday (Tuesday) by iHLS as part of the launch of the Inno Tech Innovation, Cyber and Homeland Security Conference, held last November. In the panel, cyber experts criticized GSS activities to locate Corona patients The government was called upon to set up a dedicated body to centralize the information. The panel was chaired by Brigadier General (Res.) Sharon Nir, former head of the IDF School of Information Technology and Cyber, who focused on the dilemma between the "right to privacy" and the need to "save lives" through surveillance. Follow the corona trajectory and prevent the spread of the plague.
Avi Yariv, a cyber, intelligence and HLS expert and chairman of the Inno Tech conference, noted that "collecting this data creates a large, living and breathing database that any intelligence, criminal or private investigator would very much like to have - where everyone is." "What he does and with whom he meets."
According to Yariv, this information is valuable and even dangerous, not only in the corona world, and it is the great fear.
"Even if everything is fine, we have created a database of all the citizens' movements in the State of Israel. If God forbid a hacker enters - we have created a weak point at a strategic level of the State of Israel."
Guy Mizrahi, VP of Saeb, "RayZone Group", which is considered one of the most prominent cyber experts in Israel, said, "I do not trust the system.
The State of Israel has proven in the past that it does not know how to maintain our information.
Agron database, which contains all the information of the Ministry of the Interior about us, has been leaked and distributed 15 times in the past.
There are factors that hold the entire database of the State of Israel, for every human being - this is a scandalous thing. "
"This is not even a break-in. The state shares the information with every party that is formed. The state proves time and time again that it does not know how to keep our information. It is distributed for free," he added, noting that even if there are privileges for the database, " "Or another, with permission, will not regularly monitor citizens, for money or just out of curiosity."
Mizrahi emphasized that in today's reality, we consciously share all our information with Facebook, Google and Apple and also with our cellular companies.
The difference is that commercial companies have something to lose from improper use of our information.
Mizrahi: "What does the state have to lose if it violates my privacy? What will happen if a female soldier follows her friend, or a soldier after his girlfriend? No one will pay the price, and most importantly, whoever gave it a chance to happen - will not pay the price."
Photo: Gil Kramer
Mizrahi, who dealt with offensive cyber, added, "I do not strongly believe that the information can be maintained in a high enough quality way. Even if it is possible - no one cares. Not enough is being done."
Mizrahi added that the technology used by the GSS is an outdated technology, which is programmed within a range of hundreds of meters:
This is the level of resolution of the system and it has caused tens of thousands of citizens to go into isolation unnecessarily. "
Mizrahi pointed to the public atmosphere that allows the state to infringe on privacy as follows:" The government uses the rhetoric of war.
In war we are willing to give up a lot, including the right to privacy.
"We have made an amazing change of consciousness here, so that we can be tolerant of losing our privacy, our freedom and many other things along the way."
Sen. (retired) Adv. Itzik Chopin, former head of the computer crimes department at the police, clarified that the State of Israel sought to prevent a national catastrophe and began GSS locating, but the State of Israel is the only country in the West that operated units to combat terrorism and serious crime. Corona.
Advocate Chopin: "Even in the routine, the intelligence and investigation bodies can receive data without a judge's order.
It happens every day.
The existing conditions in the law: harm to human life and prevention of crime - without a judge's order.
The Corona went into this package.
The question we have to ask ourselves is: how do we reduce the damage when operating the tools. "
Advocate Chopin recommends adopting a model similar to the Anti-Money Laundering Authority - an independent authority that is not committed to any organization or enforcement, and whose sole purpose is to locate Corona patients. This, according to Chopin, will prevent a body like the police or GSS from using information. other (albeit important and good) they do, without receiving permission.
According to Chopin, was a case in which outsourced the work privileges, which belonged to the Haredi sector, examined a database of government office pedigree of someone in the haredi world. "attachment to the community and faith was stronger From his professional ethics.
These are things that unfortunately happen. "
The three agreed that in an age where the speeding train could not be stopped, a strong regulatory body should be produced that would establish forbidden and allowed rules, that there would be an outside body that had no interest in doing anything further with the information.
According to them, such a force should not be in the hands of law enforcement and the war on terror.