Yesterday, Microsoft's venture capital division, M12, announced that it was divesting its $31-million ownership stake in the Israeli facial recognition software company, Anyvision. Israeli media had reported that Anyvision had a contract with Israeli Occupation authorities to maintain a database of West Bank Palestinians. Human rights groups have found … [Read more...]
Knesset Speaker Resigns, Provoking Major Political Crisis
Today, Israel's Knesset Speaker, Likud veteran, Yuli Edelstein, resigned rather than follow a Supreme Court directive to convene the legislative body. He had adjourned it with the excuse that the Covid-19 epidemic rendered it too dangerous to meet. The Court had ordered him to reopen proceedings to elect a new Blue and White Speaker. But in the event of a s … [Read more...]
Israel’s Shin Bet Transforms Mission from Hunting Terrorists to Hunting the Sick
One of the many anti-democratic ploys unleashed by the Likud in the last dying days of its control over current Israeli politics, was the end-around Bibi Netanyahu did circumventing the Knesset to employ a secret database of all Israeli citizens and monitor them for Covid-19. The NY Times reports that a 2002 directive permitted the Shin Bet secret police to … [Read more...]
World’s Leading Cyber-Attack Company, NSO Group, Ranked in Top-20 “Worst Digital Predators”
NSO Group is once again in the news, and not in a good way. Reporters Without Borders created a new Hall of Shame list of the world's worst "digital predators." That is, countries and companies engaged in the most egregious violations of human rights, press freedom, and personal privacy: To mark this year’s World Day Against Cyber-Censorship, celebrated on … [Read more...]
